The Other Takino
by Not-as-Thrilling-as-Advertised
Summary: Before Torako could stand outside Asagi's house to be interrogated by Yotsuba, she first had to make it through high school. Azumanga Daioh/Yotsubato! crossover of sorts. Rated M because the internet has been a bad influence on me.
1. An Anonymous Letter

I do not own Azumanga or Yotsubato!, the characters were created by Kiyohiko Azuma, etc.

**Note:** I've revised and added to this chapter, so if you've already read it you may want to do so again. Just sayin'.

* * *

The first thought to enter Torako Takino's head when she saw the envelope in her shoe locker was that someone must have made a mistake and put it in the wrong one. The second thought, when she saw that it was addressed to her, was that it must be a joke, that someone had decided to mess with her. As she finished tying her sneakers and stood to leave she wondered who would target her for a prank, and came up with a very short list of names. Even though she hadn't exactly made any friends in her first month of high school, she was fairly certain she hadn't made any enemies, either. Was it someone who knew her from middle school? If she factored in her old classmates then the number of suspects jumped considerably, but she hadn't really seen or talked to any of them since graduating middle school.

On her way out of the school two second year girls quietly moved to the other side of the hall as Torako passed. Though she pretended to ignore them, she found herself groaning inside. So not only had her reputation from middle school followed her here, it had also reached the upperclassmen.

She didn't get it. Okay, so she'd gotten in a few fights. It wasn't like she'd started them. Hell, she'd never even _wanted_ to fight anyone, but her damn sister had a talent for pissing people off, so Torako had developed a talent for watching her back. Sometimes she wondered if Tomo was even aware of the reason her classmates were afraid of her sister.

It was no surprise to her that she'd had very few friends through middle school. Between her quiet personality, perpetual frown, and reputation for getting into fights, people started steering clear of her very quickly, and it wasn't long before the only people she hung around with were Tomo and her friend Yomi. She'd hoped that things would change once her loudmouth sister was going to another high school where she couldn't force her into any more fights with her stupidity, but that damned reputation had followed her here, even if Tomo hadn't.

_Well screw them then,_ she would think to herself. If they were so quick to judge her by her reputation she didn't need them as friends anyway.

But still . . . it did kind of suck not having any friends.

On her way home she was distinctly aware of the envelope in her schoolbag. She'd never gotten a note in her shoe locker before; she wasn't sure people even _did _that, or if it was just some anime trope. Who was it from? What did it say?

_Oh calm down,_ she thought to herself as she put a cigarette between her lips and flicked her lighter. _It's probably all just a joke, so don't get excited. Besides, you don't even like any of the guys in your class like that anyway. _This would be the point where Tomo would interrupt, saying she didn't like guys at all, at which point Torako would just roll her eyes, seeing no point in even arguing with her anymore. Just like she called Yomi fat, Tomo called her a lesbian, whether it was true or not. As if she had a leg to stand on, what with how she was always hanging all over Yomi, often literally. Sometimes Torako wasn't so sure Tomo had gone to such measures to go to the same school as her friend just to annoy her.

To be honest though, sometimes she didn't quite know _what_ she was. She knew there were guys she found attractive, but there were also times when she'd feel the same way about girls she saw. She heard people say it wasn't a big deal to feel that way at her age, but that didn't make it any easier. Knowing that feeling confused was normal didn't make her feel any less confused. If anything, it just made it worse; she hated knowing a problem's cause but not having a solution.

Another thought occured to her then. _What if . . . it's from another girl? _As soon as it sprang up she dismissed it with a puff of smoke. Of the people that avoided her, other girls made up the overwhelming majority. Still, though . . . would she mind if it was?

"Tora-chaaaan!"

Her thoughts were interrupted by a shrill call from down the street. Without even noticing she'd almost reached her house, and coming from the opposite direction were Tomo and Yomi. Her sister was waving at her, looking like a lunatic as usual. When the distance had closed Torako waved back.

"Good Morning Musume!" Tomo said.

Torako paused by the gate to finish her cigarette. If their parents caught her smoking Tomo would quickly become an only child. "It's the middle of the afternoon," she pointed out. "And that's a stupid greeting."

"That's what I told her when she used it on me this morning," Yomi said.

"I'm considering retiring it," Tomo said as she nodded. "It doesn't work quite as well as it did in theory."

"First good idea you've probably had all day," Torako said around the cigarette.

"I can vouch for that," Yomi said quickly, raising a hand.

Tomo lurched back dramatically, hand over her heart. "Waugh! I'm being double-teamed! Tora-chan, as my twin sister you're supposed to stand up for me, dammit!"

Torako just looked at her as she ground the depleted cigarette butt into the sidewalk.

"You're cruel, Torako," Tomo said accusingly.

"And you're loud. What's your point?" Torako pushed open the gate and headed inside, followed shortly by her sister. She quickly made her way upstairs to her room, trying not to hurry.

After changing out of her school uniform Torako sat down at her desk and reached into her bag and brought out the envelope. She found herself hesitating to open it, almost afraid to see what was inside. _Oh come on,_ she thought, and tore it open. Inside was a single sheet of paper, folded in half. (What exactly was she expecting? A dozen roses? A severed ear? A bomb?) With sweating hands and pounding heart she unfolded it, wondering why she was so worked up over this. With an annoyed sound she straightened the paper and began reading.

Torako frowned at the note after she finished, unsure of what to think. This was it? There was no name, and it had been typed so she couldn't get any clues from handwriting. And it was so damned short! How was she supposed to respond if she had so little to work with? Of course she knew that she wasn't supposed to respond, otherwise she'd have been given a means to. The rational part of her knew that the whole point of the anonymous note was to breed curiosity, to string the target along until they were desperate to find out who was behind the words, but the irrational side (the Takino side) was still pissed off about it. (Never mind that deep down she knew this was exactly the route she would probably take in this situation.)

Still, though . . . _someone had noticed her._ Someone had seen through the reputation and the cold exterior to the person within, and had liked what they saw. Just that thought was bringing the corners of her mouth twitching upwards. Then another thought occured to her: what if they wanted the delinquent girl who got in fights? She immediately dismissed that possibility, on the grounds that she didn't like it as much as the first one.

"Tora-chan!" The door burst open and in strode Tomo, oblivious to boundaries as usual.

_Shit!_ Torako hurriedly folded the note and tried to open her desk drawer to hide it. If Tomo saw this there would be no end to the torment. "You're supposed to knock," she said.

"So what, I've already seen you naked," Tomo said dismissively as she reached the desk. "I'm bored, let's do something."

"Go bug Yomi," Torako said, still fighting with the stubborn drawer and hiding the now-crumpled note in her hand.

"I wanna bug _you _today," Tomo said, glancing at the desk. "Hey, what's this?"

Torako looked up to see her picking up the envelope. "That's an envelope," she said.

"I know that, stupid." Tomo was inspecting it. "Hm, it's got your name on it, but there's no street addresses or postage or anything, so it didn't come by mail."

Torako decided to abandon the drawer and just stick the note in a pocket while her sister played detective.

Tomo looked down at her and grinned suddenly. "You got this in your shoe locker, didn't you! _You got a love letter!_"

Torako just glared at her. "I did not."

Tomo wouldn't be deterred. "Where is it? I have to see it!"

"That . . . it's none of your business!" Torako said, raising an arm to shove her away. She froze, seeing Tomo's eyes lock onto something. She tipped her eyes down, and saw a corner of paper sticking out of her pocket. _Shit, she's caught the scent._

Tomo's eyes lit up. "There it is!" she shrieked and lunged forward, hands clutching for Torako's hip.

_Get out of there! _"No!" Torako protested and stood, shoving her sister away. She managed two backwards steps toward the door when Tomo squirmed past her arms and made another grab, one hand dangerously close to thrusting right up between her legs. "Get off me you pervert!"

"Lemme see it! I gotta read the note!" Tomo's hand clawed at the pocket, but Torako thrust her own deep inside, crushing the note down to the bottom.

"It's none of your business!"

"Yes it is!" Tomo was yanking at her arm now, threatening to jerk her off her feet. Sure enough, as they fought both girls lost their balance and crashed to the floor.

Torako shoved Tomo away with a foot and rolled over onto her stomach. As she was getting up to run for the door Tomo tackled her at the waist, knocking her back down.

"Let me see it!" Tomo shrieked as she shoved a hand into the pocket.

"Never!" Torako shrieked back as she grabbed her arm and yanked it out. To her horror doing so prolapsed the pocket, bringing the lining out along with Tomo's hand. Almost in slow motion she saw the crumpled piece of paper pop out and land on the carpet next to her armpit. Her eyes immediately moved to Tomo's; they were locked on the note. Torako lurched sideways, crushing it underneath her body as she tightened her grip on her sister's arm. Unfortunately despite being nearly a full head taller Torako wasn't much heavier, and Tomo had little trouble wrestling her away. As soon as she was off the note Tomo shoved a foot into Torako's stomach and dove for it.

"No!" Torako screamed at her, but Tomo had already snatched up the note and run laughing back to her own room. Torako heard the door slam and the lock click as she was getting up to run after her. "You open this door or they'll need dental records to identify your remains!" she shouted as she pounded on the door with her fist. The door finally opened a minute later, and Tomo emerged laughing. She hadn't made it through the doorway when Torako grabbed her in a headlock. "_Give it back,_" she growled.

Still laughing, Tomo help up the note. Torako snatched it away and shoved Tomo back before storming back to her room. As she slammed the door shut she heard their mother's voice come up from downstairs: "Girls, stop fighting."

Torako sat down her bed with an angry _Hmmph_ and straightened the note out on her leg. She didn't see what was so funny about it. She was about to read it over again when there was a knock on her door. "Piss off," she snapped.

Tomo's voice came through the door. "I want to apologize."

"Do you honestly expect me to believe that?"

"No, but I feel bad about it anyway. C'mon, let me in." The door wasn't locked.

Torako sighed. "Fine," she said.

The door opened. Tomo stood there, looking solemn. Then her expression suddenly switched to a manic grin, and she pointed at Torako and laughed. "Ha ha, that note was so stupid!"

Torako shrieked and launched across the room at Tomo, hands aimed for her throat. Before she could reach her the door was slammed shut, and she crashed into it and fell painfully to the floor as Tomo's door closed and locked.

As Torako was picking herself up their mother's voice called up the stairs again. "Don't make me come up there!"

--

That night, Torako lay on her bed staring up at the ceiling and listening to the radio. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't stop thinking back to that damned note. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't think of anyone who'd paid enough attention to her to seem likely to be the sender. There was Tetsuo, but he already had a girlfriend (spineless doormat though she was). Besides, he kind of gave her the creeps and with that giant forehead he looked like a beluga. Kaneda was okay, but she suspected he was more in love with that stupid red scooter of his than he could be with any human being. Yamagata was too dumb. And besides, none of those guys seemed the type to leave anonymous notes, and they'd all probably be in reform school before the end of the year anyway.

She rubbed her forehead and groaned. Oh, why did she have to be such a damn loner? Because loners were cool, that's why. So why did she have to be cool? Because she didn't want to be like Tomo. Why didn't she want to be like Tomo? Because Tomo was the human embodiment of chaos, a whirlwind of destruction that one couldn't escape so much as try to survive.

God, _Tomo. _That she had actually shared a womb with her and resisted the urge to strangle her with her own umbilical cord was a constant source of amazement. Never mind that fetuses are generally about as smart as a bag of sand, this was Tomo. If baby sharks could cannibalize each other in the womb, then unborn Tomo could antagonize another fetus to drive it to murder. If her parents hadn't filmed their birth . . . and made them watch it . . . ew . . . then she'd swear she'd been adopted.

Torako groaned again and sat up. She needed a cigarette. Scooping up her pack and lighter from her desk, she opened the window above her bed and stepped out onto the roof. As she smoked, she listened to the sounds of the night and looked out across the neighborhood. Crickets chirped, a dog barked, and a few blocks away a car drove past. She turned her head up, but all but the brightest stars were drowned out by the city's glare. She closed her eyes, letting herself relax. _Ahh, peace and quiet._ A rare commodity in the Takino household, she had learned to appreciate it wherever it could be found.

She was practicing her smoke rings when she heard the front door quietly open and close. She looked down and saw Tomo emerge into the moonlight, heading for the gate. Sneaking out, as usual. She called down to her: "Where do you think you're going?"

Tomo spun around, looking around the front of the house for her.

"Up here," Torako said.

Tomo's eyes turned up and met hers. "To Yomi's," she whispered. Loudly. "You wanna come?"

Torako thought it over a moment. _What the hell,_ she decided, it was the weekend tomorrow, so it wasn't like she had to be up for school. Besides, it beat sitting in her room all night. "Yeah, okay." She flicked the cigarette into the neighbors' yard, watching the glowing embers trail through the dark like sluggish tracer fire before climbing back in the window.

--

"We got a transfer student in our class this week," Tomo said.

"Okay." Torako lit a fresh cigarette before sticking her hands in her pockets.

"She's from Osaka, but she doesn't act like she's supposed to." Tomo scowled and clenched her fists. "It's so frustrating!"

"How is she supposed to act, exactly?" They moved from darkness into light as they passed under a streetlamp, then back into dark again.

Tomo shrugged. "Y'know, like an Osakan. Always making wisecracks and stuff." She looked up at her sister angrily. "She didn't even have takoyaki in her lunch!"

"Why are you getting so mad about this?" Torako asked.

"Because it just pisses me off, that's why! Why aren't _you_ getting mad?!"

Torako took the cigarette from her lips. "I don't even know this person."

"I'll bring her over sometime and introduce you."

"You'll introduce us," Torako repeated.

Tomo nodded. "Yes."

"So I can be pissed off with you."

"Yes."

Torako pretended to think it over, then shook her head. "You know, I'm looking at your plan from all the angles, and I gotta say I'm not feeling especially enthusiastic about it."

Tomo glared at her. "Dammit Torako, I'm your twin sister! You're supposed to take an interest in my life!"

Torako glared right back. "I'm not going to start hating a complete stranger just because she doesn't act like a walking stereotype."

Tomo shook her head. "Hey, who said I hated her? I like her just fine."

"Then why are you so pissed off?!" Torako asked. No point in asking, really; Tomo's mind usually operated entirely outside the boundaries of logic and reason. Of course, knowing that never seemed to keep Torako from getting annoyed at her behavior.

"It's your fault!" Tomo accused.

"How is it _my_ fault?"

"It just is! Because you're not agreeing with me!"

"I don't even know what point you're trying to make," Torako said as they reached Yomi's house. She ground her cigarette into the pavement and instinctively looked around before pushing open the gate. She wasn't too keen on someone mistaking them for burglars. (Trespassers maybe; burglars, not so much.)

"Yo!" Tomo kicked off her shoes and climbed into Yomi's room through the window.

"I'm not letting you copy my homework," was the first thing out of Koyomi Mizuhara's mouth. She was seated at her desk, reading a fashion magazine.

"Don't be so quick to judge, Koyomi-kun! I just came to hang out!"

"With your notebook."

" . . . Yes."

Yomi turned then, to look at Torako as she swung her legs into the room. "Oh, hey, Torako," she said in a friendlier tone.

"Hey," Torako said. She reached for her pocket before remembering that smoking was verboten in this house.

Tomo laughed. "Do you need to go back outside, Tora-chan?"

"I'm fine," she grumbled.

"Being that addicted to smoking at fifteen can't be healthy, Torako," Yomi said.

"Yeah, probably not." She sat down on the floor against the bed as Tomo hopped onto the bed itself. She felt a momentary urge to mention that at least smoking kept her thin, and immediately dismissed it. She knew how sensitive Yomi was about her weight (whether she needed to be or not), and she was in no mood to risk incurring one of her infamous uppercuts that her sister was so familiar with. (Though Tomo insisted that she would be able to take Yomi in a fight, Torako wasn't so sure; Yomi could be absolutely terrifying if she got really pissed off.)

"Hey Yomi, when are you getting a TV in your room?" Tomo asked.

"I don't need a TV in my room," Yomi said without looking up from her magazine.

"I have a TV in _my _room." Tomo looked smug.

"So go home and watch TV there."

Tomo shrugged. "It's no fun watching TV in your own room."

Torako sighed. "If you wanted to watch TV why'd you come here if you knew Yomi didn't have one in her room?"

Yomi looked at her as if to say _Good question._ Then she turned to Tomo. "You could always watch TV in the living room."

"And wake up your parents? They'd kick me out."

"Then you should definitely watch TV in the living room," Yomi said.

"I wish _our_ parents would do that," Torako muttered.

Tomo looked at the back of Torako's head as she remembered something. "Hey Yomi, guess what Torako got today!"

Torako spun around to glare at her sister. "_You shut up,_" she hissed.

Tomo just grinned even wider. "She got a _love letter!_"

Torako sprang to her feet, just barely catching herself from lunging at her. She didn't feel like getting thrown back outside by a couple of angry parents. Tomo clearly knew this, because she was was wearing that infuriatingly smug expression of hers.

"_Really?_" Torako turned to see Yomi leaning forward in her seat, smiling. "Good for you, Torako!"

Torako straightened and self-consciously scratched at the back of her head. "Uh, thanks . . . but it's kind of vague, so it might not even be-"

Tomo interrupted her as she got off the bed. "Oh Tora-chan, you're too modest. It was _clearly_ a love letter." She clasped her hands at her heart and fluttered her eyes dramatically at the ceiling. "'I'd like to make you happy, if you'd let me.'"

Torako grabbed her by the collar of her shirt. "You wanna take this outside?"

Tomo just laughed in her face and patted her shoulder. "Oh, you'd never beat up your baby sister, Tora-chan."

"You're four minutes _older_ than I am, stupid."

Yomi interrupted them. "I want to hear about the letter!"

Tomo stepped away from Torako and shook her head. "My dear Yomi, you're such a foolish romantic." She shrugged. "Actually it was pretty lame, a bunch of sappy crap about how Torako's so cool but she looks sad and lonely and never smiles."

"That's _your_ fault, you know," Yomi said.

"Pretty much," Torako agreed.

Tomo straightened her shirt. "That's not the point," she said. Suddenly she spun to face Yomi, pointing an index finger right in her face. "Yomi! We must help Tora-chan find out who her secret admirer is!"

In the silence that followed, the cricket outside the window could not have been more appropriate.

Finally Yomi spoke. "Are you kidding, or are you honestly that stupid?"

Tomo's finger sagged. "Huh?"

"Exactly what part of 'We go to different schools' do you not understand?" Torako asked.

"Never mind that," Tomo said with a smile, "I have connections."

"Like hell you do," Yomi said.

Torako sat back down, on the bed this time. "Just forget it," she said. "It's probably just a prank anyway." She shrugged. "Besides, I don't really like any guys in my class like that so it probably wouldn't go anywhere." She winced inwardly; she knew she'd just inadvertantly handed Tomo a loaded gun by saying that.

"But what about _girrrrls?_" she asked with a taunting grin.

"No, no _girls_ either," Torako snapped, and got out her lighter. "You want me to set your hair on fire?"

Tomo got down on the bed beside her. "You don't need to hide it from me Tora-chan, I won't judge you."

"Tomo, leave her alone."

Tomo turned to face Yomi. "What, you too?" She looked back and forth between her sister and her friend. "Oh my god! Yomi, _you_ left the note!"

Almost in unison, both Yomi and Torako hung their heads and sighed.

* * *

**-Author Notes-**

First off: Yes, I know that a story centering on a character from Yotsubato! is not exactly Azumanga Daioh fanfiction, but since there's no category for Yotsubato! fanfics I'm kind of stuck. And it has Azumanga Daioh characters in it too, so hey.

Since I was an anonymous poster at /azu/ when the whole "Torako Takino" theory began I'm a bit leery of saying I was one of the first to support the idea since I can't really back it up, but I was, so I'm gonna say it and screw you.

For those who don't already know, the fanon theory is basically that Tomo Takino from Azumanga Daioh and Torako from Yotsubato! are sisters, and the reason we never saw Torako in Azumanga was because they went to different high schools; Tomo made a special effort to get into Yomi's school, while Torako just went to the nearest one.

There are a few interpretations of this; I go by the twins interpretation, where Yotsubato! is set in the year the first chapter was published (2003), Asagi and Torako are in their second year of college, and the Takino sisters are fraternal twins.

This of course disregards the claim that Yotsubato! is "always set in the present day," for various reasons, the most pressing of which is that while Azumanga Daioh progressed in relatively real time, that would mean that time in Yotsubato! moves with all the speed of a glacier, with just a single summer lasting five years in real time. This isn't a problem by itself, but it becomes one if you want to cross the two stories over, since Tomo graduated high school in 2002, which would make her around 24 in Yotsubato! time, if it were set during the present day. Then a year goes by and she's 25, while Torako has aged maybe a month. So it's just a lot easier for the purposes of this story to say that Yotsubato! is set in 2003.


	2. The Takino Household

_WHAP._ Torako was woken up the next morning by a pillow slapping hard against the side of her head. "Gah, what!" she said angrily as she raised her head from her own pillow.

Tomo stood over her. "It's time to get up," she said without a hint of remorse for what she'd just done.

Torako turned her head away. "Go away, I'm trying to sleep."

"I said it's time to get up!" Tomo repeated, lifting the pillow for another blow.

"Heard you the first time, didn't care then and don't care now."

_WHAP, WHAP, WHAP._ Tomo brought the pillow down on her head over and over again until she finally rolled over and grabbed it. "Hey, let go!"

"You gonna stop hitting me?"

Tomo looked at her blankly for a moment. ". . . Maybe."

Torako glared at her. She knew it was probably a bad idea, but she let go of the pillow anyway. Tomo immediately hit her again. Then she was shoved out of the room so hard she hit the wall on the other side of the hallway, and Torako was locking her door before climbing back into bed.

"Hey! You've still got my pillow!"

--

It was almost noon when Torako finally dragged herself out of bed and went downstairs in search of breakfast. As she passed through the living room her father looked over at her from where he and Tomo were watching TV on the couch.

"Ah, so she finally left her cave," Sato Takino said.

"We were starting to think you'd become a hikikomori," Tomo added.

Torako just made an annoyed sound on her way to the kitchen.

"Hey, lazyface," her mother Nao said to her as soon as she arrived. She was seated at the kitchen table reassembling a dismantled Rubik's cube.

Torako ignored her while she poured herself some coffee.

"That shit'll stunt your growth, y'know," Nao said.

Torako smirked and took a sip. She was already the tallest one in this house, towering over her dad by three whole centimeters. The Takinos were not a lineage known for their tall men.

The coffee hit Torako's tongue, her eyes widened, and she spat it out into the sink. "Blaagh, what _is_ this?!" she asked, looking at the black liquid in her cup.

Nao was too busy laughing at first to answer. "Your sister brewed that pot. Sure woke ya up, didn't it?"

Torako just made a disgusted sound and rinsed out her cup, then the coffee pot. "I'm not drinkin' that sludge," she said as opened the coffee maker and threw out the filter. "It tastes like _hate._"

Nao shrugged and looked at her own cup. "I don't know, it's not so bad once you get used to it." She took a sip and grimaced. "'Course it's not so _good,_ either."

"I think a little part of my soul died when I tasted that," Torako said as she opened the fridge and looked for something to eat.

"Well now you're just being melodramatic."

Torako picked up a plastic container. "I _am_ a Takino," she said before opening it and peering inside. She immediately closed it and shoved it way to the back of the fridge.

Her mother nodded. "True enough. Though you're the most boring one of us."

Torako sat down with a plate of cold chicken. "Most boring, or most sane?"

Nao shrugged and snapped another block into place. "Same thing."

Torako looked at the cube. "You do know that breaking those things apart and then putting them back together so the sides match is cheating, right?"

Nao sighed and held up the mostly-finished cube. "Torako, this thing is a puzzle to be solved using your ingenuity. Most people wouldn't _think_ to do it this way. Does that mean I'm cheating, or just thinking outside the box?"

"Cheating," Torako said around a bite of chicken.

"Ahh, forget you."

They both turned towards the living room as Tomo and her father laughed. "Wahahaha, what a moron!" Tomo cackled.

"I think I heard his leg bones snap," Sato said.

Nao got up. "Oh this I gotta see."

Torako sat alone in the kitchen for a minute before her curiosity got the better of her, and she joined the rest of her family in the living room. Almost as soon as she got there a man fleeing the police on a motorcycle drove right off the edge of a bridge and down into a stand of trees, prompting another round of laughter.

Nao grinned and pointed at the TV. "Who would think _that's_ a good idea?!" she asked.

Torako shrugged and went back to check on the coffee. As soon as she was in the kitchen there was a screech of tires and the sound of crumpling metal and smashing glass from the TV. It wasn't that she didn't _want_ to see the horrific accidents and displays of appalling stupidity, she just had to keep up the appearance of being more mature than the rest of her family.

She was watching the pot slowly fill when she saw Tomo's reflection approaching from behind. She turned around and deflected the hand just as it was about to poke her in the ribs.

Tomo acted as though nothing had happened. "Hey, me and Yomi are going somewhere today, you should come too."

"Where's 'somewhere'?" Torako leaned back against the counter and asked.

Tomo shrugged. "I don't know, the mall or something?"

Torako looked at the coffee pot and thought it over. She _did_ feel like getting out of the house today, but on the other hand she didn't want to be a fifth wheel. "I don't know," she said, "I know how much you like your alone time with her."

Tomo's eyes narrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Torako just shrugged and didn't say anything. Finally she sighed. "Yeah, might as well. No other plans for today."

Tomo turned and headed back to the living room. "Yeah, 'cause you've got no friends from _your_ school to hang out with."

"Don't make me hurt you." When the coffee was finished Torako poured herself a cup and took a sip. _Ahh, much better. _Bitter without any cream or sugar, but at least it didn't make her feel like a part of her was dying if she drank it.

--

Tomo turned the doorknob and then kicked hard on Torako's door, sending it flying open with a bang. "This is a raid!"

Torako pulled her T shirt the rest of the way down and looked at her. "You _do _know what knocking _is, _right?"

"Of course I do, stupid." She sat down at Torako's desk and spun in the chair. "Aren't you done getting dressed _yet?_"

"Gimme a minute, yeesh," Torako said as she pulled a black work shirt out of her closet and put it on. "What's the rush?"

Tomo kept spinning. "No rush, you're just slow."

Torako reached out and shoved the back of her chair, spinning it faster. Tomo squealed in delight as she picked up speed as Torako pushed the chair around and around as hard as she could. Then without any warning she grabbed the back of the chair, bringing it to an abrupt stop.

Tomo sat for a moment, swaying dizzily before she pitched over to the side and began to roll off the chair. " . . . Hey," was all she could manage before she fell out onto the floor in a flopping tangle of limbs. As she lay watching the ceiling spin her phone rang in her pocket.

Torako was hanging her bag over her shoulder. "Hey numbnuts, your phone's ringing."

Tomo waved an arm angrily in the wrong direction and got out her phone. "Yeah? Yeah, we're about to leave. Tora-chan's coming too. Uh-huh." She sat up and looked at her sister now waiting by the door. "Yeah, she practically _begged _me to let her come."

"Excuse me?" Torako said.

"She did too!" Tomo said and glared sideways at the phone in her hand. "_Your face_ is a liar! Okay, see you there." She closed the phone and stood up. "Okay, we're gonna meet up at Yomi's house."

"You are such a liar," Torako said and stepped out into the hall.

"Don't you start with me too."

"I _begged_? You _invited_ me."

"Only because I could see the loneliness in your eyes." Tomo looked back at her as they headed down the stairs. "It's pretty sad when your best friend is a coffee maker, Tora-chan."

"What?" Torako didn't know if she should laugh or be annoyed. "The coffee maker is not my friend."

"After all it's done for you? You're heartless."

"Beats being brainless," Torako muttered.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Tomo demanded as they sat down to put on their shoes.

"Hey Sato, I thought you were going to fix the lock on the bathroom door today," their mother called from the kitchen.

"Figure it out yourself," Torako said. "If you can manage it."

"I'm about to fix the punching you in the face on the shut the hell up, woman!" Sato called back from the couch.

"Try it and I'll rip off your arms and shove them up your ass!" Nao shouted.

"Nao, I'm gonna crack open your head, dig out your brains with an ice cream scoop, and feed them to baby ducks!"

Nao cackled. "Joke's on you asshole! I don't _have_ any brains!"

"That much should be obvious, you married _me!_"

They both ignored their parents; there was never any real animosity behind their threats.

As soon as they were on the street Torako reached into her bag for a cigarette. Tomo watched her light up, but didn't say anything. "What," she asked with a puff of smoke.

Tomo shrugged and looked away. "Nothing. They are _your_ lungs, after all."

"Don't you start on me too." She got enough of that _You're going to give yourself cancer_ crap from Yomi.

"I didn't say anything," Tomo said, then muttered: "Chimney."

"Oh shut up."

"What?" Tomo looked at her innocently. "I was coughing. Which reminds me, have you got smoker's cough yet?"

Torako glared at her. "No."

"Only a matter of time," Tomo said quietly as she turned her attention to a sign on a telephone pole.

"Shut up!"

"Fine, fine. Don't get your panties in a wad." Tomo changed the subject then. "So I've been thinking of ways we could find out who your admirer is."

"This oughtta be good," Torako muttered.

"You know those motion-sensitive cameras they use to get pictures of endangered animals? We'll put one of those in your locker." She pantomimed opening a shoe locker and leaning back from a sudden flash. "They open the door to leave the note and BAM! We got 'em on film!"

"That's idiotic."

"What?" Tomo asked. "Why? What's wrong with it?"

"Well," Torako began, "first of all I don't even know _where_ to get one of those, and they're probably expensive as hell. And second, what's to stop them from just taking the film out to hide their identity?"

"Easy," Tomo said. "We rig it to explode if it's opened."

"How would _we_ get the film out to develop it then? And besides, neither of us knows how to build a bomb."

Tomo dismissed all that with a wave of her hand. "Internet, dummy. You can find _anything_ on the internet." She grinned mischievously. "Like last week I was using the internet at Yomi's house, and I found this site that showed-"

Torako clamped a hand over her mouth. "Don't finish that sentence," she said before yanking her hand away when Tomo licked her palm.

"What? You don't even know what I was going to say," Tomo said.

Torako wiped her hand on her shirt. "I know _you_ though, so I have a pretty good idea."

"Hypocrite," Tomo said and crossed her arms. "Don't act like you never touch yourself, 'cause I know for a fact you do."

Torako looked at her disgustedly. _You _know_ for a _fact? "There are just things that aren't discussed between siblings," she said. "And how do you _know?_"

"Oh look, we're here," Tomo said, pointing at Yomi's house. She ignored the doorbell as she pushed open the gate, then the front door, and strode right into the Mizuhara residence. "HEY YOMI!" she shouted at the top of her lungs as Torako sighed.

--

"Okay, how's this sound. I skip school on Monday, and hide in the shoe locker room at Torako's school."

"I've got a better idea," Torako said, "why don't you quit thinking up retarded schemes?"

Tomo had kept coming up with ridiculous plans to learn the identity of the person who left the note in Torako's locker all the way from Yomi's house. Now it was two hours later and they were grabbing a bite to eat at the mall's food court, and she was still going. Torako had to admit though that this was one of her less out-there ideas today.

"Aren't you even the _least_ bit curious?" Tomo asked her.

"Yeah, but I'm not about to do something stupid to find out who it is."

Yomi ate her sandwich quietly. She was wisely staying out of it.

Tomo shrugged and picked up a piece of beef with her chopsticks. "They're probably blind or mentally handicapped or something anyway, if they're leaving _you_ notes." She jerked in her chair and yowled in pain as Torako kicked her shin under the table.

"You had that one coming," Yomi told her as she held her leg and whimpered.

* * *

**-Author Notes-**

Okay, explanation time. If you've been following this story, you may remember how back in the author notes for chapter seventeen, I said I was going to try to step up my game and put more effort into this thing. Well, since I can never leave well enough alone, that quickly spread to retroactively sprucing up the existing chapters too, so I've decided to go through and tweaking/rewriting/adding to them, as well as adding whole new chapters such as this one. This is why it's sometimes a bad idea to read anything I write: You never know when I'll bust out a revised version that you have to read all over again.

So yeah, I've deleted all the chapters and I'm going to be putting them back up as the new versions are finished. Hopefully they'll be better, and not worse.


	3. A New Friend

Monday morning, and time to get ready for school. Torako fell back on her bed and yawned. Just laying there as she was seemed more comfortable than usual somehow; wasn't that how it always was, that beds were always nicest when you had to get out of them? Dammit, she didn't want to go to school today.

Just as she was about to doze off again a shouted announcement came through the wall from the bedroom next door. "TODAY I HAVE DECIDED ON THESE PANTIES!!"

Torako sat up and looked at the offending wall. Did Tomo have to do that _every single day?_ Well, since she was getting dressed too it was probably time to get moving, so she rubbed her face with a tired grumble and stood up to put on her skirt.

There was nothing new in Torako's locker when she got to school. _Okay, so they get here after I do,_ she thought to herself as she pulled on her inside shoes. _Either that or there's not gonna _be_ another note. _If this person was serious though, there would almost certainly be another. It was only a matter of when.

As Torako sat down at her desk and the room filled with students and the air with the murmer of voices and the scrape of chairs, Torako yawned and glanced out the window. After a month she'd gotten used to the relative quiet of school now; with Tomo and Yomi out of the picture, their constant arguing that had been a daily fixture were suddenly gone from her school routine.

As the class settled she turned her head away from the window, glancing over the other students. Who could her secret admirer be? _Is it you, Asazaki? Or _you,_ Togusa? _As she stared at the far wall and let her mind wander someone entered her field of vision and sat down, glancing beyond her out the window as they did so. _Could it be _you,_ Ayase? _No, no, and no. Absent-mindedly she began picking at a scab on her wrist as she turned her attention back to the window. Ugh, she almost wished she'd never gotten that stupid note. The last thing she wanted was another source of stress in her-_ow! _She looked down at her wrist, and at the drop of blood welling up on the skin. She sighed and flicked the scab away. Dammit, not _again._ That thing was never going to heal at this rate. Maybe she should just put a band-aid over it already.

--

Tomo glared at her empty shoe locker as she would a life-long enemy.

"Your shoes aren't going to put _themselves_ in there, you know," Yomi told her.

"It's empty," Tomo complained.

Yomi leaned back against the lockers to pull on her inside shoes. "It tends to be like that when there's nothing in it."

Tomo brought a hand up and smacked Yomi on the head. "That's not what I meant!"

Yomi sighed and glared at her. "Tomo, no one in their right mind would put a note in _your_ locker."

Tomo scowled at her, then grabbed a random male student as he headed for class. She pulled him over by his collar and pointed at her shoe locker. "Put a note in my locker!" she demanded.

"Get off me, you psycho!" the boy said as he swatted her hand off and went on his way.

Yomi just shook her head.

--

Torako hated her second period class. Geography with Kobayashi-sensei. It wasn't that she didn't like the subject matter so much as she hated the teacher. Kobayashi was a man absolutely in love with the sound of his own voice and with his extensive vocabulary, and he had a knack for talking for minutes on end without ever actually saying anything of real substance. Not only that, but he wasn't nearly as knowledgable as he apparently thought himself to be.

As he was proving spectacularly as he discussed east Africa and its contributions to the study of human origins. "And from Tanzania we have Lucy, who dates around three million years old." Kobayashi looked from the blackboard to the class. "This of course puts her in the _Homo erectus_ category of early humans."

_Not _Homo erectus_ you IDIOT_ _Lucy was _AUSTRALOPITHECUS_ you STUPID MORON _Torako wrote in her notes. She barely knew _anything_ about human evolution and even she knew _that._ As she tuned Kobayashi out she looked around the room. Over by the wall a girl gave a note to a boy, who passed it on to the girl sitting in front of him, who read it and suppressed a giggle. Kobayashi didn't seem to notice as he obfuscated his way through the class. In the desk in front of her, a boy scratched at a mosquito bite on his neck. Torako glanced up at the clock and sighed. She was pretty sure that classrooms existed in a separate universe where time passed more slowly than in the world outside. She wondered if she could get away with dozing off for the rest of class as she yawned.

--

Lunchtime. As everyone began to coalesce into their usual little groups, Torako prepared for another day of eating alone. Not that she minded eating alone, a little peace and quiet could be very hard to come by in her family. She was unwrapping her lunch when a shadow fell over her desk.

"Hi there!"

Torako looked up. "Huh?" God, she sounded like an idiot. Standing above her was Asagi Ayase, smiling down at her with lunch in hand.

"You mind if I eat here today?"

"Uh . . . sure." Torako moved her lunch to make room as Ayase pulled up an empty chair.

"You looked so lonely, eating alone every day," she said as she unwrapped her lunch. "So I thought I'd come over and keep you company."

"Uh, thanks," Torako said, "but I don't really mind eating alone."

"Nonsense," Ayase said with a wave of her hand, and picked up her chopsticks. "Nobody should eat lunch alone." As she was about to take a bite she paused. "You're Takino, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah, Torako Takino."

Ayase looked at her a moment before giggling. "Torako . . . it suits you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Suddenly Torako felt defensive. She didn't come here just to give her a hard time, did she?

She just smiled and shook her head as she chewed. When she swallowed she said: "I'm Asagi."

Torako nodded and chewed.

"So why don't you mind eating alone?" Ayase -- no, Asagi -- asked. "Do you not like people or something? Or just shy?"

Torako looked at her through her hair.

"I noticed you don't seem to have any friends here," Asagi said as she picked up a croquette. Her tone was conversational, not taunting.

_Does she . . . feel _sorry _for me?_ Torako shrugged. "I just mainly hung out with my sister and her friend, but they're going to another school now." She picked at her food. _God _she wanted a cigarette. "I like the peace and quiet though. They can get pretty loud." Another thought came to her then. _Wait, she noticed? Has she been _watching _me?_

"Your sister goes to another school?" Asagi asked. "How'd that happen?"

Torako shrugged. "Her friend got in, so she did too just to annoy her."

Asagi nodded. "I see." She grinned at her suddenly. "Well you've got a friend now!"

Torako looked at her dumbly. "Huh?" Could you _do_ that?

Asagi reached over the table and patted her on the shoulder. "That's right! From now on, you and I are friends."

"O-okay . . ." was all Torako could manage before going back to eating. She wasn't sure just declaring a friendship right off the bat was the best way to go about it, but if Asagi wanted to be her friend she wasn't going to question it too much.

_What the hell am I thinking?_ she thought, and glanced at Asagi, eating across from her with a serene look on her face. _Calm down Torako, you sound like you've got a crush on her or something. _The thought of Tomo laughing triumphantly as she was proven right flashed through her mind like a vision of Hell. She suppressed a shudder as she ate.

--

There was no note in her locker at the end of the day, either. Had they lost their nerve, or were they building suspense? Torako was putting on her jacket when Asagi appeared from around the end of the lockers.

"Hey, Torako!"

"Oh, hey." Okay, now she was appearing in the locker room. Was this how new friends were made, or was this just stalking behavior? She wasn't sure.

"Joining the army?"

"What?"

Asagi pointed at her jacket.

Torako looked down as she picked up her bag. "Oh. No, I got it from my uncle. He was in the ground defense force."

Asagi nodded. "I like it, it's cool."

Torako nodded and headed for the door. "Thanks."

"Just like you," Asagi said as she followed after her. Torako felt her face heat up a bit, but didn't say anything. She wasn't used to compliments from people she barely knew.

Asagi was still walking behind her in the hallway. "Um, are you following me?" Torako asked.

"Yep!"

"Why?"

Asagi shrugged. "Well I'd noticed you take the same route home that I do for a while, so I thought I'd walk with you."

"You seem to notice a lot of things about me," Torako said as she pushed the door open and stepped outside. She held the door open while Asagi passed through.

"Well of course," Asagi said, passing by her with a proud smile. "I've been stalking you!"

Torako stared at her. _What?!_

Asagi paused and looked back at her, laughing. "Kidding," she said in a playful sing-song.

". . . Right," she said and followed after her.

When they were side by side Asagi punched her lightly on the shoulder. "You need to lighten up, Torako. You're too serious."

"You can blame my sister for that," Torako mumbled as she reached into her jacket pocket and got out a pack of cigarettes.

"Shouldn't you at least wait until we're off school grounds?"

Torako just shrugged. "It's not lit."

As they walked Torako glanced over at Asagi. She looked completely at ease, taking in the scenery, though she must have been just as familiar with it as Torako was by now. She couldn't help but wonder why this girl was suddenly so dead set on being her friend, seemingly out of nowhere. She'd caught her looking her way in class from time to time, but she'd always assumed she was looking past her out the window.

Maybe she was one of those absurdly friendly types, who felt the need to reach out to anyone they felt needed a little attention. That didn't feel quite right though, at least based on what she'd heard about her. Those types were usually goody two-shoes types as well, and from what she'd heard Asagi definitely wasn't _that_ sort of person.

Of course, people said things about _her_ too, so she wasn't exactly ready to take everything she heard about people at face value.

The rest of their shared walk was spent in silence, but it didn't feel awkward. It felt almost like Torako was back in middle school, walking home with Tomo and Yomi (on a day when Tomo was actually able to keep her mouth shut for ten minutes, anyway), and she realized how much she'd grown to miss the presence of someone just walking alongside her. It was strange how she could grow to miss something without even realizing it.

Eventually Asagi stopped and spoke up. "Well, I'm going to have to leave you now. See you tomorrow," she said, and turned down another street with a wave.

Torako waved back, watched her go for a moment, and then continued on her way. As she walked, she couldn't help thinking back to that note. The timing was awfully suspicious; she gets a note in her shoe locker, and then the very next school day Asagi sits down and eats lunch with her, right out of the blue, and then insists on walking home with her. It seemed too obviously transparent to be anything more than just an outlandish coincidence, but . . .

She turned back and looked at the spot where they'd separated. _Had _she _left the note in my locker? _She shook her head and continued walking. _No, of course not. _Asagi didn't strike her as the sort of person to leave anonymous notes like that. She was too confident and straightforward. _Unlike me,_ she thought,_ who would rather eat lunch alone every day and never talk to anyone than try to make new friends and risk rejection._

Still, though, she couldn't help but feel a tingle run through her body at the thought of Asagi being her admirer. Almost as soon as that sensation appeared though, it was followed by another thought: _God DAMMIT, I'm proving Tomo right!_

Speaking of Tomo, she was already home when Torako arrived, fighting to yank off her sneakers without untying them. The first one came off just as the door was opening, and Torako had to duck to avoid catching a flying shoe in the face.

"Tora-chan!" Tomo went to work on the other shoe as Torako nudged the first one back inside with her foot. "Did you . . . ermf . . . did you get another letter?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but no." Torako sat down next to her and began untying her own shoes.

"Cigarette."

Torako's eyes widened. "Oh _shit,_ thanks." She hurried back outside to flick the forgotten butt into the neighbors' yard. Sometimes she felt bad about using their property as an ashtray.

As she went back to untying her shoes Tomo reached behind her and grabbed her bag, emptying its contents onto the floor.

"HEY!"

Tomo ignored her protest, sifting through the pile of textbooks, notebooks, pens, and papers. "I'm just making sure you're telling the truth," she said casually. "I have to practice this sort of thing for when I join Interpol."

"I don't think Interpol is nearly as exciting as you think it is." Torako began gathering up her things and placing them back in her bag. "And if you ever wind up in a position of law enforcement I'm going to lose all faith in modern society."

"There's no letter in here." Tomo sounded disappointed.

"That's what I _said._"

Tomo looked at her accusingly. "I thought you were lying!"

"And that's _my_ fault?"

Tomo glared at her for a moment before shoving her onto her side. "_Yes!_" Before Torako could respond she was on her feet and up the stairs.

"What the _hell _was that about?" she asked to no one in particular.

--

After changing out of her school clothes, Asagi Ayase headed down to the kitchen and opened the fridge. _Ah-hah_. A cup of pudding. So what if it belonged to her little sister, anything of Fuuka's was hers anyway. On her way back up to her room she grinned nastily to herself. It wasn't that she didn't like Fuuka, she just enjoyed tormenting her. Besides, when she was born she stole all of the attention, so it was only fair that Asagi should steal all of her stuff now.

Sometimes she wondered if what Fuuka said was true, that she was a bully. She supposed she could be a little mean sometimes, but she didn't think she qualified for the status of _Bully. _It wasn't as if she ever hit her.

Well, okay, she _did_ hit her from time to time, but she'd never beat her up. Not without a good reason, anyway.

She put the pudding cup on her desk and untied her long hair from the ponytail she'd put it in. As she began to eat, she thought back to that walk with Torako, and wondered if she _had _been stalking her. Did the occasional glance during class count as stalking? She didn't think so, but the watching her walk home certainly might. But they did take the same route for a while, and she might as well look at _something _while she walked.

Why did she even care, anyway? Why was she so interested in this person? Okay, Torako seemed cool and mysterious, but she also seemed a bit like a stick in the mud. Not exactly the sort of person she'd usually go for. And besides, no matter how cool or mysterious someone was, that mystique evaporated as soon as one got to know them. If the majority of a person's appeal was how mysterious they were, actually interacting with them inevitably destroyed that appeal. Asagi could only hope that Torako would prove interesting even without that air of mystery.

She licked her spoon and frowned. When she'd walked past her in the locker room on Friday and saw that envelope in her hand, she'd suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to make a move. What bothered her was that she couldn't quite put her finger on _why. _It wasn't as though she had prior claim to her or anything. Hell, until today they'd never even spoken to each other. Still, she didn't like the thought of someone else snatching her up.

As she scraped the bottom of the cup Asagi wondered if she could be interested in her romantically. She'd read having a crush on another girl was more common than one would think and that it didn't necessarily mean one was a lesbian, but she didn't know how reliable that article had been. It certainly wouldn't surprise her though; after all, she'd had a crush on her friend Maiko for a brief period in middle school, until she began acting as though she was better than everyone just because her family had money. Asagi still hung out with her now, but mostly just out of habit.

Asagi's thoughts were interrupted by her mother opening the door and glaring into her room. "Asagi, did you take Fuuka's pudding?"

Asagi looked at the spoon in her hand, then up at her mother. "Ah, that was hers? Oops."

--

Tomo didn't bother harassing her sister any further; as soon as she heard the door next to hers close she was out of the house and headed to Yomi's. Though it was the middle of the afternoon she went in through the window anyway, knocking twice before sliding it open and pushing in past the curtain.

"You _can_ come in through the door," was all Yomi said. At her desk, doing her homework. That work ethic of hers made Tomo _sick _sometimes.

Tomo said nothing, just flopped down on the bed.

Yomi looked over at her. "Something the matter?"

"That stupid Torako!" Tomo said.

Yomi sighed and went back to her homework. "What about her?"

Tomo stared up at the ceiling for a minute, looking petulant. Then: "How come _she_ gets a love letter and I _don't?_"

Sigh number two. "I should have known you'd be jealous."

"I'm cuter than she is! I've got more personality! _I _should be the one getting the attention! What's _she_ ever done?" She crossed her arms and _hmmphed._ "Get in a bunch of stupid fights, that's what."

Yomi fought the urge to shout at her friend. "You don't even know _why_ she got into those fights," she said.

"So? Why find out? I don't care."

"If you came here looking for sympathy you can forget it," Yomi said irritably.

Tomo opened her mouth to say something, but apparently already knew what the response would be. Instead she just _humphed_ again and turned on her side, facing the wall. As she sulked, Yomi switched on the radio and went back to concentrating on her homework.

* * *

**-Author Notes-**

Kobayashi is based mainly on my college geography professor, who I absolutely hated. That Lucy thing actually happened, and it had me practically foaming at the mouth. I am a paleontology geek. He also somehow managed to not only get the title to _Gorillas in the Mist_ ("Gorillas OF the Mist," he called it) wrong but also the name of its star (apparently it starred "Sigonya Weaver"; funny, I always thought it was _Sigourney_ Weaver), despite having the movie's poster _projected onto a giant screen three feet behind him._ It takes a special kind of dumbfuckery to get a movie's title wrong when you need only turn your head to read it in three-foot letters. He and my obnoxious anthropology professor (every single one of her lectures: "I'm married to an Iranian guy so I am automatically smarter and better than all of you backwards closed-minded small-town hicks") were two major reasons for my dropping out of college for the second time. I have a major problem with taking lessons from people I hold in contempt.

What did all that have to do with the actual chapter? Not a whole lot, I guess. Oh well.


	4. A New Enemy

It was Torako's turn to walk Kuro today, and no matter how hard she'd tried (not very) she couldn't squirm out of it. Especially since Tomo was still at Yomi's, probably pushing her friend one more step to brutal murder. Torako had long ago decided that if that ever happened, she'd help Yomi find a place to hide the body and a person to pin the crime on. She figured she owed it to her for putting up with her sister for so long.

Torako exhaled twin trails of smoke from her nostrils as she walked behind the dog and once more cursed the "one pet" rule in effect at their house. Once that hamster had died Torako had wanted a cat, but of course she was shouted down by the loudmouth idiot. The next one, they'd said. Next time they'd get a cat. Yeah, too bad Shiba Inus could live up to fifteen years.

"Torako!"

Hearing her name, she stopped and turned. _You have got to be kidding me._ Coming up the block on a bike was Asagi Ayase.

When she reached her she slowed before getting off to walk alongside her. "I thought that was you. What's up?"

"This is starting to get a little creepy," Torako said. Her deadpan expression made it difficult to tell if she was joking; in actuality, she wasn't quite.

Asagi just laughed. "I know, isn't it? I guess it's just a matter of time before you go missing and then turn up naked and headless in the river."

Torako looked down at the dog. "Kuro, kill her."

Kuro looked up at her as he lifted his leg at a light pole. They paused to wait for him to finish before continuing on.

"Is that your dog? He's so cute!"

"More my sister's than mine," Torako said with a shrug. "I wanted a cat."

Asagi thought for a moment. "It's not quite a cat, but I've got a couple little sisters. You want to trade for one of 'em?"

"Are they quiet?"

Asagi nodded.

"I'll throw in Tomo."

"Tomo?"

"My sister."

Asagi looked skeptical. "Hm, I'd better not. I get the feeling I'd end up like you."

"If not worse," Torako said, then took a drag from her cigarette. "So why are you in my neighborhood?"

Asagi gestured with her head at the bags in the bike's front basket. "Groceries. What about you?"

Torako just looked at her.

Asagi changed the subject. "Hey, do you have a bike?"

"I used to," Torako said.

"'Used to'? What happened to it?"

"Tomo backed our car over it."

Asagi looked like she couldn't decide whether to laugh or act shocked. "Really? Why?"

Torako shrugged. "She usually doesn't need a reason."

"That's a shame, I wanted someone to go on bike rides with."

Torako was about to respond when a clod of dirt came flying over a hedge and hit her in the chest. She lurched back, dropping Kuro's leash. "Ahh, what the hell!" Kuro stopped and looked back at her.

"Hi Tora-chan!" Tomo's head popped into view, followed by an embarassed-looking Yomi.

"Her idea," Yomi said, as if there was any doubt.

"Could you hit her for me?" Torako asked.

Tomo wilted away as Yomi nodded, and out of the corner of her eye Torako saw Asagi wince as Tomo was propelled up and back by the force of Yomi's uppercut.

" . . . Is she okay?" Asagi asked when they reached where Tomo was lying in the street, looking dazed.

"She's fine," Torako said and kicked her lightly on the leg. Kuro sniffed at her face and licked it. "Get up, idiot."

Tomo slowly raised her arms before scratching Kuro's ears and getting to her feet with a grin that made it hard to believe she'd just been punched in the face. "Who's this?" she asked, pointing at Asagi.

"This is Asagi," Torako said. "She's in my class at school."

Tomo pointed even more emphatically. "Ah _ha!_ Your secret admirer."

Torako squeezed her eyes shut. "No, you dumbass."

"Ooh, what's this about a secret admirer?" Asagi asked.

"It's nothing," Torako looked away as her face grew hot.

"Anyway, I'm Tomo, Torako's twin sister! Nice to meetcha!" Somehow even speaking at a normal volume sounded like a shout when Tomo did it.

Asagi looked back and forth between the two sisters. ". . . Twins."

"Hard to believe, isn't it," Yomi said, massaging her hand.

Torako turned to her sister. "Hey Tomo."

"Yeah?"

A hand was thrust towards her, holding the end of Kuro's leash. "Here."

"Huh?" Tomo took it, staring at it dumbly. "What's this for?"

"See ya," Torako waved and hurried down the street.

"It was nice to meet you two." Asagi waved and followed after her.

They were a block away when they heard Tomo shout "Hey!" at them.

"So you have a secret admirer," Asagi said after a few minutes.

Torako looked up from brushing dirt from her front. "Um . . . I guess, sort of. I got a note in my shoe locker."

"Ooh, I'm jealous! I wish I got notes in _my _locker."

Torako's expression told her she wasn't believing for a second that she didn't.

"So who do you think it's from?"

She shrugged and exhaled a stream of smoke. "No idea."

Mischievous expression. "Who do you _hope_ it's from?"

"No idea."

"Oh come on, you have to have a crush on _somebody._"

Torako felt her face grow hot again. "I really don't."

"Then why are you blushing?"

Torako just concentrated on the sidewalk to her right.

Asagi relented. "Okay, fine, I'll let it go for now. But only because you're so cute when you blush." She laughed as Torako blushed even more.

--

Tomo immediately hurried home to drop off Kuro. Then she turned to Yomi and raised her arm to make an announcement. "Yomi! We are going shopping!"

"I thought we were coming here to hang out."

Tomo smacked her. "Change of plans! Come with me." Before Yomi could hit her back she was out the gate again. As Yomi followed after her she turned. "You have money with you, right?"

Yomi made an irritated sound. "Tomo, what are you doing?" she asked as she caught up with her.

"I'm going to teach Torako a lesson." Tomo clenched her fists. "Dumping Kuro on me like that and then ditching us for some new piece of meat! It really pokes my eye!"

"'Some new piece of meat'?" Yomi repeated. "And she didn't _ditch_ us, you ambushed her with dirt."

"Dammit Yomi, stop taking her side!"

"Then stop being such a dumbass!" Yomi snapped at her. "How am I supposed to take your side if you keep making yourself the bad guy?"

"The bad guy?!" Tomo looked wounded. "How am _I_ the bad guy here?"

"You're going to try to punish your sister for making a new friend," Yomi said. "Do the math."

"It's for her own good." Tomo pointed at her eyes. "Did you see that girl's eyes? You saw her eyes. She had crack eyes. She's a crack_head!_"

"If anyone's a crackhead here," Yomi said, "it's _you._" She sighed. "If you didn't want Torako to hang out with anyone but you then you shouldn't have abandoned her to go to my school."

"That's _her_ fault," Tomo insisted as she crossed her arms. "She could have gotten in too."

Yomi nearly told her why she didn't, but instead she just shook her head. "Whatever it is you've got planned, I don't want to be involved."

"You don't even know what I'm _doing,_" Tomo said.

"I know it can't be good."

"I told you to stop taking her side!"

--

Without even realizing it, Torako had wound up in a neighborhood she didn't recognize. Not only did she not recognize it, but she had no idea how she'd even gotten here, or how to get back. She stopped, cigarette halfway to her lips, and looked around before looking over at Asagi.

"What is it?" Asagi asked.

". . . I'm not sure how I got here."

"You walked."

"No, I mean . . ."

She shrugged. "Well I was headed this way, so you probably followed me without realizing it. That's a little creepy, you know."

Torako frowned at her. "Funny."

Asagi walked on with her bike. "Anyway, this is my street. C'mon, we're almost to my house." She turned and grinned back at her. "You wanna come up to my room and make out?" She laughed as Torako spluttered and fumbled for a response. "Oh lighten _up,_ Tora-chan! I'm sure you're taking enough years off your life with those cigarettes already."

Torako ground the expended butt into the pavement before following her inside.

As they went through the living room to the kitchen, Torako saw an awkward-looking girl who looked to be around ten or eleven years old sitting on the couch with a book. As they passed by she looked up at her. "Hello!" she said brightly.

" . . . Hi," Torako said, feeling awkward.

Asagi paused. "That's my sister, Fuuka," she said. "This is Torako," Asagi explained. "She's a friend from school, and she's very mean."

Torako glared at her. "Hey!"

"She even _smokes,_" Asagi continued.

Torako looked back and forth between a grinning Asagi and a wide-eyed Fuuka. "Come on, I'm not . . . but . . ." Finally she turned to Fuuka and pointed at Asagi. "Your sister's a liar, kid."

Fuuka looked relieved and nodded. "I know."

"Traitor," Asagi muttered as she headed into the kitchen.

--

"I am not going in there," Yomi said flatly.

"Well _I_ can't do it, I look like a high school student."

"You _are_ a high school student!"

"Ah," Tomo said, "but _you _look like a college student. Or a secretary. Or a grandma. Or a walrus. Or a hippo. Or a-"

Yomi smacked her upside the head. "Don't they check IDs in these places anyway?"

Tomo shrugged. "I don't know. Yukari-chan just hit me when I asked her and Kurosawa-sensei said I shouldn't be asking questions like that in the middle of class."

They were sitting on a metal bench, looking over their shoulders at the shop across the street. It had that odd blend of gaudiness and guilty secrecy that screamed "porn shop." The name, _Matsushima's World of Smut,_ was something of a giveaway as well.

"I'm not doing it," Yomi repeated. "This is a stupid idea."

Tomo got out her phone. "Fine, I'll get someone who will. Do you know Sakaki's number?"

Yomi smacked her again.

Tomo fluttered her eyes and did her best to look innocent. (She didn't do a very good job.) "Pleeeaaaaase? You know I can make your life hell if you don't!"

"You make my life hell anyway!" Yomi snapped, then sighed. "Fine, give me the list. But this isn't going to work."

Tomo produced the scrap of paper that she'd been scribbling on on the way over. "The underlined things are essential, so make sure to grab those first."

Yomi felt her innards twist as she went down the list. It was disconcertingly long. "Do I even _want _to know what you plan to do with all this? And what's it going to cost?"

"Don't worry, if it's too much I'll reimburse you from Torako's cigarette money." She patted her shoulder, looking generous. "Oh, and feel free to get a little something for yourself, too," she said with a wink.

Yomi's stomach turned as she got up and headed across the street.

--

"Photography, huh? You know I think there's a photography club."

Torako straightened a leg and leaned back against Asagi's bed. "I'm not one for clubs, though," she said. "Besides, I'm not really good enough to do it as anything more than a hobby."

"We'll have to do something about that attitude," Asagi said.

Torako couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't sound confrontational, so she just flopped her head back and yawned. Then she jumped as her phone vibrated in her pocket. "Hello?" she said as she placed it against her ear. She immediately winced and held it away. From her chair Asagi could hear a voice berating her.

"I _did _walk Kuro," Torako explained into the phone. "Because I ran into her and she threw dirt at me. Yes. I don't know, ask her. I doubt it." She rolled her eyes and started getting to her feet. "Fine, okay. Okay. _Okay._ Bye." She clapped the phone shut and returned it to her pocket. "I gotta go," she said apologetically.

Asagi got up and hurried over to her bag where it lay on the bed. "Hey, let's exchange numbers before you go."

"Stalker," Torako said.

"Wet blanket," Asagi said.

--

"I can't believe it worked," Yomi said dazedly.

"Of course it did!" Tomo said victoriously as she swung the two red plastic bags like hedonistic pendulums. "I knew it would all along."

"I am never doing that again," Yomi said. She could still feel the stares of the other customers burning through her clothes as she'd carried out her mission. She felt like she needed a bath. A long, hot bath. "And you can leave me out of whatever else it is you've got planned, too."

"So did you get yourself anything?" Tomo asked, looking in one of the bags.

"Of course not!"

"Oh, really? You can have one of these, then." She pointed to something that Yomi didn't feel like looking at. "They were for me, but I can make due with just two."

Yomi spluttered. "Buh . . . I . . . don't need to _know _that!"

Tomo's eyes brightened and she jumped at the chance to discomfort her friend further. "See these? They're for Tora-chan."

"Agh! Shut up!"

"And this one . . . well it's not for anything, really. I just thought it looked funny." She pointed and laughed. "Look, it looks like a little bunny!"

Yomi made a mental note to start hiding her magazines better.

--

Torako was able to find her way back by heading in the direction of school until she reached the street she walked along on her way there and back. The sun was starting to set when she got home, giving the houses along her side of the street a yellow tinge. As she opened the gate Yomi passed by on her way out, looking uncomfortable and clutching her bag tight.

"Hey," Torako said.

"Hey," Yomi mumbled and hurried out the gate.

_What's with her?_ she wondered as she stepped in the front door . . . and was hit in the chest with a clod of dirt.

"Hi Tora-chan!"

_Murder is illegal, murder is illegal, murder is illegal . . ._

--

Torako had gone to sleep relatively early (before midnight), so she was actually somewhat well rested the next morning. As she walked to school she found herself in an uncharacteristically good mood, despite being nearly out of smokes and her monetary reserves being mysteriously depleted. (She'd have to take it out of Tomo's hide later.)

Her good mood continued right up until she sat down at her desk. Just as she was about to open her bag her phone buzzed in her pocket. She flipped it open, saw that Tomo was sending her a picture . . . and her blood immediately began to boil.

It was a picture of her, asleep in bed, puddle of drool on the pillow. And wearing a strap-on phallus on her head. She looked like some kind of pornographic unicorn.

Quivering with rage, she immediately sent a text response: _THEY'LL NEVER FIND YOUR BODY_

Almost immediately a reply came back. _Should I send it to Asagi too?_

_You can't, stupid_

_:)_

Torako stared at the phone. When no further messages came, she closed it and put it back in her pocket. _Calm down,_ she thought. _Tomo doesn't have Asagi's number._ But _she _did now, and Tomo was obviously in her room last night. She'd left her phone on her desk . . . she tried to think if it looked like it had been moved when she got up that morning, but she couldn't remember.

She shook her head and opened her bag. No use worrying about it now, she'd just have to deal with that as it came. She reached into the bag for a pen, and froze as her fingers touched something that felt like a small metal egg. As she took hold of it to take it out she realized with it was, and quickly withdrew her hand and lay her head on her bag with a whimper.

_Murder is illegal, murder is illegal, murder is illegal . . ._

"Hey there, Penis-chan!" Torako jerked her head up to see a phone, with her picture on the screen. Beyond the phone she saw Asagi's smiling face. "Is that yours, or Tomo's?"

Torako slumped forward again. She felt like dying. "I don't want to know where that came from."

"Probably hers, then." Asagi chewed on a fingernail and looked at her phone. "I wonder if she'd let me borrow it." She looked down at her. "Should I ask?"

"No point, I'm going to kill her anyway." She stood her bag upright and lifted the flap. "Look what she put in my bag this morning."

Asagi took the bag, moved the notebooks and papers out of the way, and smiled nastily. "Heh. Oh my." Her smile widened and she reached in.

"Don't _take it out!_" Torako hissed urgently.

"Oh calm down, half the people in here probably wouldn't even know what this is. I wonder what it says about you that _you_ know . . ."

"I could say the same to you," Torako said into her crossed arms.

Asagi's hand came out holding a small plastic box with a sliding switch. "Hey, she put the remote in here too. Thoughtful." She slid the control, and a small buzzing sound came from the bag. Her smile turned positively evil. "Hey, do you hate anyone in this class?"

". . . Not really, why?"

Asagi looked around the other students. "Okay, I've got someone."

--

Second period, geography class. As Kobayashi-sensei droned on and on without actually saying anything of substance, Asagi caught Torako's eye and grinned conspiratorially.

_Bzzzz_

"Whoever's phone that is, could you please turn it off?" Several students pulled out their phones to make sure it hadn't been theirs.

Several minutes passed.

_Bzzzz_

Kobayashi sighed. "_Please,_ could you turn that off? If I hear it again I'm going to have to confiscate it."

Asagi was slumped forward at her desk, doing a very bad job of suppressing her laughter. A girl a couple rows ahead of Torako whispered something to another girl named Ohzawa, who just shook her head.

_BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ_

It was now quite obviously coming from Ohzawa's bag.

"Okay Ohzawa-san, I warned you," Kobayashi announced, striding forward and snatching up the schoolbag from its hook on the side of the desk. He dramatically threw open the flap and reached inside. "Maybe next time you'll remember to . . ." he stopped short as he drew out his hand. Asagi couldn't hold it anymore and erupted in laughter, followed shortly by about half of the class as they saw the egg-shaped vibrator dangling from its retrieval cord.

Ohzawa was horrified. "That . . . that's not mine!"

The vibrator stopped buzzing as Torako bit her lip to keep from cracking up herself.

--

"Oh man, did you see her face? That was great."

Torako glanced across the room at to where Ohzawa sat eating lunch with two other girls. As she watched she saw her cast an evil glare in their direction. "I think she knows it was you," she said quietly.

Since she'd been laughing through the entire incident, Asagi had naturally been targeted for questioning. However after turning out her pockets and looking through her bag and desk had failed to turn up the vibrator's remote control, Kobayashi had been forced to let her off the hook. Though half the class suspected her of the prank, nobody could account for the missing remote.

"So what'd she do to you, anyway?"

Asagi shrugged. "Nothing in particular, we just never got along in middle school."

"I see . . ."

"I would have liked to hold on to that, but I think it was worth it."

"You're a pervert," Torako told her.

"You knew what it was, too," Asagi pointed out.

Torako dropped the subject right there.

--

There was an envelope today. Torako closed her eyes and sighed.

"Ooh, what's _that?_" Asagi asked, leaning in to see.

"It's an envelope," Torako answered as she transferred it from locker to bag.

"From your _secret admirer?_"

"How should I know?"

"Better not be, I might get jealous."

"Right." She sat down to tie her shoes.

"I'm serious," Asagi said as she sat down beside her. "I want you all to myself. I _own_ you, uke."

"Yeah, I'm real sure of that." Torako looked at her. "Since when am I your uke?"

"Since now. So can I see it?"

"Of course not!" Torako stood up to leave.

"You're no fun, you know that?"

"It's none of your business."

"Some girlfriend _you _are," Asagi said disappointedly.

Torako stopped and spluttered. "What . . . we're not dating!"

Asagi kept walking. "Maybe we should start."

Torako started walking again. "Fwah . . . I . . ."

"Kiddinggg!" she said in that singsong voice of hers and laughed. "You're so fun to mess with, Torako."

Torako growled in her mind. _I should be used to stuff like this,_ she thought. _How is this any different from when Tomo messes with me?_

Well, Tomo didn't say they should start dating, for one thing. Usually, anyway.

As they left the school grounds Asagi kept pestering her about the envelope. "So what are you going to do about it?"

Torako shrugged as she lit a cigarette. She offered one to Asagi, but she declined. "I don't know. It's kind of flattering but I don't know if I want to go out with anyone right now. I have enough to deal with already."

"I know what you mean. Still, how often does this sort of thing happen, you know?"

"Depends on who you're talking to." They walked a few steps and Torako tried a smoke ring. "It's never happened to me before though."

"Never?" Asagi asked. "I'm surprised."

"I can't tell if you're joking or serious."

"Neither can I, sometimes."

"AYASE!"

They both stopped and turned. Ohzawa and another girl from class (Torako was pretty sure her name was Hagiwara) were coming up behind them, and Ohzawa didn't look happy.

"Wonderful," Torako muttered.

"Ah, Ohzawa-san, Hagiwara-san," Asagi said with a wave. "You're both looking lovely as usual."

Ohzawa glanced at Torako before advancing on Asagi. "We have a score to settle. I know you put that vibrator in my bag today."

Asagi shrugged, wearing a face of smug innocence. "I don't blame you for suspecting me, but I didn't do it. You saw yourself I didn't have the remote on me."

Ohzawa snarled and stepped forward. Without even thinking Torako put herself between her and Asagi.

The shorter girl looked up at her with an expression of annoyance and something else she couldn't quite place. "Back off Takino, this doesn't concern you."

Torako exhaled a long string of smoke and watched it dissipate in the breeze before responding. She didn't like fighting all that much, but she had to admit she got a little kick out of acting intimidating. "If it concerns her then it concerns me." She just hoped she didn't look as nervous as she felt.

"I don't want to fight you Takino, but-"

"Then leave," Torako interrupted.

When Ohzawa took another step forward, Torako reached out and shoved her roughly to the ground. A quick glance at Hagiwara told her she was hanging back. When she looked back at Ohzawa she was staring up at her from the pavement, her face a mixture of shock, anger, and pain. As tears began to well up in her eyes Torako felt her eyebrows raise. Well _this _was certainly an odd way for someone her age to react to being pushed down. She suddenly wanted very much to get out of there, so Torako did the only thing she could think of to end the matter. She reached into her pocket, took out the remote she'd used to control the vibrator at Asagi's prodding, and tossed it into Ohzawa's lap. She looked down at it, then back up at Torako.

"You wanna come after someone, come after me," Torako said and turned away.

She and Asagi had gone a few meters when she heard a shrill scream of "_I HATE YOU!_" and the remote went whizzing past her ear.

"You missed," she turned and called back. Ohzawa had dropped to her knees in the street as Hagiwara stood by awkwardly, unsure of what to do.

"Wow, it looks like she's really crying," Asagi said, looking over her shoulder.

"Is she usually like that?" Torako asked. "I feel kinda bad now."

"Me too. The only time I've seen her like that was when a guy rejected her last year."

Torako didn't like the way she looked at her then. "What?"

"You don't think _she_ wrote the notes, do you?" Asagi was grinning a little sadistically for her taste.

"I hope not."

"Yeah, for your sake. I guess we'll know if dead animals start showing up in your locker, huh?" Asagi mercifully changed the subject. "You were pretty impressive back there, by the way. I didn't know you could be so scary."

"You haven't heard the stories then," Torako mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing." Torako held out a visibly trembling hand. "Too bad it was all an act."

Asagi pouted. "Aww, so if she'd attacked us you would've run away?"

She shook her head. "If she attacked us I'd kick her ass. I just really wouldn't want to."

Asagi nodded. "I see. I'll try to keep out of trouble then."

"_Thank _you."

"I should probably warn you though that Ohzawa has kind of a problem with holding grudges."

_Well of course she does,_ Torako thought. _Why should the universe make things any easier for me?_

--

"Tora-chaaaan!"

Tomo and Yomi were reaching the gate just as Torako was arriving home. From the way Tomo was acting one would think the events of that morning had never happened. Typical.

"Hey Tomo, can I see your phone for a second? Mine's acting up."

"Anything for my Tora-chan!" Tomo handed it over with a wide smile.

Torako flipped it open. "You're certainly in a good mood," she said as she pressed a couple buttons. Tomo was beginning to answer when Torako suddenly hurled the phone down against the sidewalk, smashing the casing open and scattering the components. As Tomo gaped at the wreckage of her phone Torako pushed open the gate and walked inside.

"You . . . you murderer!! I HATE YOU, TORAKO!!"

As she sat down to untie her shoes Torako smiled a little to herself. Ahh, sometimes nothing felt quite so good as a little childish revenge.

* * *

**-Author Notes-**

Not many changes made to this chapter, though I did add in some new dialog and whatnots. Not that I don't think it could be improved further than what I've done, I just think it works fine as-is and I don't want to risk fucking it up by messing with it just so I can say I worked harder than I did.

Fun fact: I absolutely loathe internet/text shorthand with the burning fury of ten thousand suns (sometimes I think I should go back to college and become an English teacher), so I didn't even try to replicate it. If that really bothers you, you can always pretend their messages were all mangled, or step away from the computer for a while. Either choice has its merits.


	5. War Drums

When not at school, Torako spent the next week at home. Apparently her parents didn't think smashing Tomo's phone against the sidewalk was as good an idea as she did. (To be honest she'd regretted doing it almost immediately, but she wasn't about to admit it. She was, after all, a teenage girl, and teenage girls have rarely been known as shining examples of sound judgment and emotional maturity.) She spent most of the time in her room, either dozing in bed, listening to music, or talking on the phone with Asagi.

After that last note (which, to her consternation, not only admitted that they had never spoken before, but also contained no less than three instances of the word _love_ and some disturbing speculation on the legality of same-sex marriage) (Torako was pretty sure it was still illegal), her shoe locker had contained nothing but shoes and the occasional ant. She'd half-expected Ohzawa to come after her, but if she was going to then she seemed to be biding her time for now. She couldn't help but wonder if she _had _left those notes, and could only guess how it would hurt if the person she'd just confessed her feelings to had acted to her the way she'd acted to Ohzawa that day. She'd probably want to get revenge, but would she actually act on it, or just hatch empty plans? When she'd asked Asagi about how Ohzawa had reacted to being rejected in middle school, she just mumbled something about baseball bats and hospitals. Yeah, _that_ was reassuring.

This of course led to the obvious question of why a sociopath like that was being allowed to run free, which just got a shrug and a _She's really not that bad unless you really piss her off. _Which would explain things if that didn't describe the majority of people on Earth. Of course it was also _Asagi_ talking, so she couldn't help wondering how much of it was even true. Sometimes Torako wondered if she shouldn't have made the extra effort to get into Tomo's school after all. She'd always gotten better grades than her sister, so if she'd buckled down and tried then there was little doubt in her mind that she could have gotten in. Unfortunately her desire to escape the whirlwind and her general apathy towards academic matters had steered her towards her current school, which had beaten out the rest simply because it was closest.

All of this was running through her head on the last day of her week-long punishment. She folded her arms behind her head and stretched her long legs, toes spreading just short of painfully. All in all, it hadn't been a bad week, as far as punishments went. The biggest problem had been her nicotine fix now that she couldn't go out and smoke, or buy more cigarettes if she ran out, but she'd managed to circumvent the latter by having Tomo go get her a couple packs. In typical Tomo fashion all had been forgiven within a couple days, at which point their interaction had returned to its normal mix of amicability, grudging acceptance, and all-out war. Restricting her smoking to the night-time hours and to and from school had been somewhat pricklier, and her mother asking if she was crabby because she was on her period at least once a day didn't help any.

She closed her eyes and listened to the birds chirping outside through the open window. It was funny how even though she didn't really do much anyway she was looking forward to being allowed to leave the house again. If she were more sentimental she might take this as a lesson not to take so many things in her life for granted. Too bad she wasn't.

Torako was so lost in her own thoughts and the sounds of summer outside that she didn't notice that Tomo was sneaking into her room until she dumped the bucket of water over her. The effect was instantaneous. "PFWAGFTH!!" Torako spluttered and jumped to her feet. She stared down at her wet clothes, then the bed, then Tomo, then at the bucket in her hand, then back at Tomo again. "Are you _insane?!_"

"Let's do something," was all she got in response.

_Murder is illegal, murder is illegal, murder is illegal . . . you know what, screw it._ "You're _dead!_" she yelled, grabbing Tomo by the arm.

She didn't notice the wooden sword she'd been holding behind her legs until it swung around and smacked into her side. Torako yowled in pain, letting go of Tomo's arm and falling backwards onto the bed, holding her side and writhing.

"You're supposed to chase after me," Tomo said as she watched her. Torako grabbed a pillow and hurled it with all her strength but Tomo swatted it away with the sword, sending it flying right out the window. Then she was out of the room, barreling down the stairs with Torako hot on her heels. Tomo laughed all the way down, through the living room, and right out the front door.

"Whup!" Torako had to grab the door frame to keep from pitching forward onto the porch. Her punishment didn't end until the sun went down, and Tomo knew it. "Get in here, you coward," Torako raged at her sister.

Tomo placed her hands on her hips and laughed triumphantly before walking just beyond arm's reach and dancing tauntingly. "You can't get meeee, you can't get meeeeeee!"

Torako glared before looking past her at the sun. She held out a hand horizontal and palm out, counting how many fingers between sun and horizon.

"Huh? What are you doing? Magical attack?"

"I'm calculating how long you have to live," Torako said. Was one finger-width equal to an hour, or fifteen minutes? She realized she couldn't remember.

Their dad walked past then. "What the hell, you've been good all week," he said. "Get her, Tora-chan!"

As Tomo was tackled to the ground she cried out. "Waah! Daaad, you're supposed to be on _my_ side!"

"I am a capricious and fickle god," he said as he headed to the kitchen.

Soon Tomo was on her stomach, with her arm pulled behind her and Torako sitting on her back. "Oww! AAAAOOOWWW STOP TORA-CHAN! I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!"

"I haven't done anything yet," Torako said.

"Oh," Tomo said, before crying out for real as Torako administered the snake bite. "Oww! Help! I'm being murdered! I'm being raped! I'm being skinned alive!"

"No mercy!"

"Torako, is that any way to treat your twin sister?"

They both stopped and turned their heads. Asagi was leaning against the gate, phone out. They heard the loud _click_ of the camera and she smiled impishly. "You two certainly have an interesting home life," she said.

"Ah, Asagi," Torako said as she climbed up off of Tomo. "What are you doing here?" She stopped as she realized something. "Wait, I never told you where I live."

Asagi pointed a thumb at her bike leaning on its kickstand. "I pass through this neighborhood to get groceries, remember? I head your sister there hollering from a block away." She looked Torako up and down as she realized she was soaked. "Hey, you're all wet."

Torako wordlessly pointed at Tomo.

Asagi nodded and dropped the matter. "So are you still grounded?"

Torako leaned on her side of the gate. "No, that just ended."

"Great! Let's go do something."

She made an unhappy face at Tomo. "I can't, I have to dry out my bedding now."

"Oh. Well, that's too bad." Asagi pushed away from the gate and mounted her bike. "See you later then," she waved and pedaled off.

Torako and Tomo both watched her go before turning to go inside. "You're lucky she showed up," Torako said as she stooped to pick up her pillow where it had landed in the grass. She swore and began shaking it. It had landed on an anthill.

--

There was a rubber snake in Torako's shoe locker the next morning. _This is the best you can do, Ohzawa? _she thought. She hadn't even tried to position it realistically, she'd just flopped it on top of her inside shoes. She shook her head she swapped out the shoes and sat down to put them on. If that was the best she could come up with, then she had nothing to worry about.

Then her foot hit the dead mouse pushed down into the toe of her right shoe.

_Okay,_ she thought as she stared at where the shoe had landed after she'd kicked it off. _It's war._

--

"A dead mouse?" Asagi cast an evil glance toward Ohzawa, who was talking with Hagiwara and a boy named Mifune. As they watched they all three laughed and looked in their direction. "That bitch is so going down."

Torako held out a hand pleadingly. "Just don't do anything stupid," she said. "This is my problem."

Asagi shook her head with a proud smile. "Hah! Haven't you learned anything? Anybody who messes with my uke has to deal with me."

Torako rested her head in her hands. "Do you have to call me that?"

"Would you prefer 'sidekick'?" When Torako just groaned she changed the subject. "So what'd you do with the mouse?"

"I put it in the inside pocket of her jacket."

Asagi patted her shoulder. "That's my uke. Oops, sidekick." The bell rang then, and everyone started making for their seats. "We'll continue this discussion over lunch," she said before getting off Torako's desk and heading for her own.

As things got settled Torako slumped forward and sighed. _This is going to get out of hand, isn't it? _At least Tomo wasn't there to make it worse.

--

Asagi pushed open the door to the roof and she and Torako stepped into the sunlight, followed by a third girl with short hair and glasses. "I figured we could plot safely up here," Asagi said as they headed for a concrete bench with their lunches.

"The view doesn't hurt either," Oikawa said. Asagi had invited her along to help them come up with a suitable revenge.

Torako immediately lit a cigarette. "Are you sure getting other people involved is a good idea?" she asked, looking at Oikawa.

"Isn't she thoughtful?" Asagi said to Oikawa. "She doesn't want you to get hurt." She turned to Torako with mock hostility. "Don't get too friendly though, you're _mine,_ remember?"

Torako and Oikawa both looked uncomfortable.

"Anyway, Yuko here wanted to help out."

Oikawa nodded. "Yep. Ohzawa beat up my little brother last year, so I'd like to get back at her too."

"Why do I get the feeling this will end in tears?" Torako asked.

"Because they will!" Asagi answered with a smile. "Ohzawa's!"

"That's not what I meant," Torako said.

Asagi steamrolled ahead. "So, any ideas?"

Oikawa raised her hand. "My parents are veterinarians," she said, "maybe I could get some animal parts or dead hamsters or guinea pigs or something?"

Torako felt her stomach heave. Asagi just looked thoughtful. "Hmm, that might be a little extreme to start off with, since the retaliation would probably be even worse. I don't want Torako to get seriously injured or anything."

"I appreciate your concern," Torako said sarcastically.

"I like that idea though, we'll keep it in mind for later."

"I am not handling animal guts," Torako said. She was ignored. As Asagi and Oikawa tried to come up with good ideas for a retaliatory prank that could match or surpass a dead rodent in a shoe, Torako finished her lunch and went to the railing surrounding the roof. As she finished her cigarette and looked down at the students milling about outside an idea came to her, and she turned back to the seated pair. "Hey," she called to them.

They stopped talking and turned to look at her. "Yeah?" Asagi said.

"I've got an idea," she said.

--

It was decided that Torako and Oikawa would do most of the grunt work for the counterattack, since it not only required showing up very early for school but also some heavy lifting, neither of which Asagi was willing to do. When asked why they were doing all the work when she was the most gung-ho about carrying on this prank war, Asagi had just waved her hand and said, "Because I'm the administrator. I give the orders, and you carry them out." When asked who had appointed her administrator, she just shrugged and said that she had.

Torako and Oikawa spent most of the afternoon after school looking for a suitable location to dig. When they finally found a secluded spot in the park behind a row of bushes, Torako got out the little folding shovel her mother used for gardening and began digging. When they'd filled two plastic bags with enough dirt to fill a shoe locker they took off before anyone had seen what they'd done.

"This is so exciting," Oikawa said to her on their way to her house. The plan was for her to get a ride to school from her older sister extra early, where she would meet Torako and get to work before any other students showed up. Then they would take off, hang around a few blocks away to kill time, and come in with everyone else. "I've never done anything like this before."

Torako was smoking, as usual. "I have once or twice," she said. "My sister used to try to rope me into stuff like this all the time when we were in middle school." She looked at her current partner in crime. "You look like a nice person, so don't get too attached to this sorta thing. It can spiral out of control real fast."

Oikawa nodded, and Torako wondered if she was doing it just to be polite. They walked quietly before she spoke again. "Takino-san, can I ask you something?"

"Probably," Torako said and exhaled a stream of smoke.

"Are the stories about you true?"

She sighed. _And here we go._ "What stories?"

"Well I heard from some people who went to middle school with you that you were a real delinquent, and that you were always getting into fights."

"I'm not a delinquent," Torako insisted, then looked at the cigarette in her hand. "I did get into a few fights, though," she admitted.

"Why?"

"Have these people told you about my sister, too?"

Oikawa nodded.

"Did you ever hear about her getting beat up for all the stuff she'd pull?"

She shook her head.

Torako pointed her cigarette at her. "Bingo."

"So you were protecting your sister?"

Torako took a drag from the cigarette and blew smoke from her nostrils. "Yeah, at first. Then a few people decided to come after me instead, either because they wanted a rematch or because I'd beaten up a buddy of theirs." She took another drag and exhaled smoke as she continued. "Most folks learned to leave us alone after a while, but everyone still avoided me like they were afraid I'd attack them or something."

Oikawa looked at the sidewalk ahead of them. "Wow, that really sucks."

Torako nodded. "That's the cost of being related to her I guess." She laughed then. "I was expecting her to get her ass kicked by the end of her first week at her new school, but apparently it's got a lot more even-tempered kids than our old school did."

"Ah, we're here!" Sure enough, the nameplate next to the gate read _Oikawa._ "Would you like to come in?"

Torako shook her head. "I'd better get home. If I'm going to be getting up early tomorrow I'd better finish my homework right away so I'm not up late."

Oikawa nodded. "Ah, good thinking. I'd probably better do that too. I'll see you tomorrow morning then?" she asked as she took the other bag of dirt.

Torako nodded. "I'll be there."

Oikawa waved and went inside, and Torako lit up a fresh cigarette as she started home. Despite her reservations she couldn't help looking forward to tomorrow morning. As idiotic as it was there was always a certain rush in doing something so monumentally stupid and childish, especially if there was someone else involved.

--

The next morning Torako stood down the block from the school, smoking in the shadows. The sun had not yet risen, and everything was still blue. As she waited she thought of how she could get used to being up at this hour. The city had not woken up, and the only sounds were the birds singing in the trees.

As she checked the time again on her phone, she heard a car approaching and looked up. A green sedan stopped in front of the school, and a skinny girl with short hair got out. As Torako watched she leaned back into the car and took out two bags before waving at the driver and saying something she couldn't quite make out. Then the car took off, and she ducked behind a tree when it passed by. She probably didn't have to, but she felt like acting shady at the moment.

As the girl stood in front of the school gates Torako got out her phone and dialed the number she'd been given yesterday. She heard a trilling beep, and the girl across the street and down the block got out a phone. "Hello?" she heard in her ear.

"Good morning," Torako said as she emerged from her hiding place and headed across the street.

"How long were you waiting there?" Oikawa asked, almost apologetically.

"About twenty minutes," Torako said as she shut her phone off. "You brought everything?"

The spectacled girl nodded.

Torako ground out her cigarette on the sidewalk. "Okay, let's get to work."

* * *

**-Author Notes-**

A few things.

First: A lot of the decisions being made here, especially the one to get engaged in an escalating prank war, can be explained by keeping in mind the following: the characters are teenagers, and teenagers are stupid. They're always making boneheaded decisions that seem like the natural course of things in their eyes, but to those higher up in years make little to no sense. Pierce my ears and lip with a blowgun? Sounds like fun! Snort cinnamon? Rock and roll! Spray me with insect repellant and set it on fire? Hell yeah, we doin' this! Get shitfaced drunk, jump in a kayak, and paddle through shark-infested waters at four-thirty in the morning? It's go time! These were all done by teenagers I know. I spent a good half an hour chasing the last guy down in a canoe to make sure he didn't die.

If you are a teenager and you're reading this, I'm sorry if this comes a surprise to you but it's true. When you get to be my age you'll look back on this period of your life and ask yourself: "What was I thinking?"

Second: Readers unfamiliar with the term _snake bite_ may know it as the_ Indian burn, Chinese burn, _or any regional variation thereof. It is administered by holding the victim's arm with both hands and twisting in opposite directions. Depending on who's doing it, it can vary from merely annoying to excrutiatingly painful.

Third: Asagi's proving a challenge to write, I think. It's kind of hard writing her as playful and bossy without veering dangerously close to Haruhi Suzumiya territory. At least I always have the excuse that people's personalities can change quite a bit between high school and college (my own sister being an example, an absolute fire-breathing bitch at sixteen and the sweetest person ever at twenty-two) if I fail too hard at keeping her close to how she is in _Yotsubato!._


	6. Bath House Interlude

It was hard work, finding buckets, getting the mud at the right consistency, and then completely filling Ohzawa's shoe locker with it (burying the shoes in the process), but Torako and Oikawa had managed to get the job done with time to spare. After making sure no traces of dirt were visible on the outside of the locker, they returned the buckets to the custodian's closet, left the school, and headed for a nearby park to wait before going back in with the other students.

"That was a nice touch filling the shoes too," Oikawa said as they leaned against a railing. "I can't wait to see her face when she opens that locker."

Torako nodded. "Should be entertaining," she said. "I'd be tempted to hang around and watch myself if it wouldn't look so suspicious."

Oikawa nodded. "Yeah." They both knew that Ohzawa would know straight away (or at least suspect) who'd entirely filled her locker with mud, so there was really no point for Torako to try to cover her tracks as far as she was concerned. The school faculty were another matter however, and no matter how much Ohzawa insisted there was no way Torako could be found guilty if she'd arrived at the same time as all the others. They didn't see why she'd have any reason to suspect Oikawa, but they didn't want to take any chances, either. "I'll tell you all about it at lunch, okay?"

Torako checked her phone. Another five minutes or so before they'd have to get going. "You knew Asagi in middle school, right?" she asked.

Oikawa nodded again. "Uh-huh."

"Has she always been like she is now?"

Oikawa turned her eyes to the sky as she thought back. "As long as I've known her, anyway. She's always been sort of childish and pushy."

"Okay, what about . . ." She tried to think of a way to phrase it. "You know, the way she talks to me?"

"Hmm?" Oikawa nodded suddenly as she realized what she was talking about. "Oh, the 'uke' business."

Torako grimaced and looked off to the side. "Yeah, that."

"I'm not sure _where_ that comes from, to be honest. I've never seen her treat anyone else as her property before."

"I'm not sure if I should be relieved or frightened."

"I know she really likes you, though," Oikawa said as if to reassure her.

There was that tingle again.

"I mean, she's been eating lunch with Maiko and I all through middle school, but now she only eats with you despite only knowing you for a week. I think that says something." When she saw Torako fidgeting uncomfortably she changed the subject. "Hey, how much time have we got?"

Torako checked her phone. "We'd probably better get going, actually." As they started back to the school her phone buzzed in her pocket. "Hello? Yeah. Without a hitch. Okay, see you there." She clapped the phone shut. "The administrator," she said to Oikawa.

--

Ohzawa was taking a while to show up. Judging from the explosion of laughter she'd heard as she changed shoes, Torako had a pretty good idea why. As she was wondering how long she'd be delayed, a hand slapped down on her desk.

"How'd it go?" Asagi beamed down at her.

"I already told you on the phone," Torako told her. "It went fine."

Asagi sat down on top of her desk and waved Oikawa over as she came through the door. "You're one of us now, Yuko-chan!" she said when she got to them.

_Great,_ Torako thought. _Another innocent corrupted._

"Ah, she's here," Oikawa said, and they all turned to watch Ohzawa head for her desk. She looked angry, and it was easy to tell why; her uniform was faintly streaked with brown, and her soggy shoes had obviously just been sprayed clean. If looks could kill Torako would have been dead twelve times over from the look she shot her as they watched.

"Good morning, Ohzawa-san!" Asagi said brightly.

"Up yours Ayase!" she spat back.

"Cheerful as ever I see!" She turned back to her friends and laughed. "Mission accomplished," she muttered as Oikawa giggled.

"Easy for you two to laugh," Torako grumbled. "You guys do realize that whatever she does it's gonna be directed at me, right?"

"Of course, Tora-chan," Asagi said. "Don't worry, whatever she does you can count on me to back you up."

"Me too," Oikawa said. "This is fun."

"Keep up that attitude," Torako muttered as she got a notebook out of her bag, "and you'll just charge right onto the spears."

Asagi patted her on the head. "Keep up _that _attitude and I may just have to punish you," she said as she and Oikawa headed for their desks.

Torako was turning her attention outside when she heard someone clearing their throat and looked over to the door. The school principal, she forgot his name, was standing there. "Is there a Torako Takino in here?" he asked the class once they'd quieted down.

She sighed and stood up. "Right here," she said.

He gestured for her to come over. "I'd like a word with you in the hall."

"Yeah," she said quiety and headed for the door. As she passed she glanced at Asagi and Oikawa and tried her best to look unconcerned.

Once they were in the hall the principal glared down at her. "I hear you may know something about what happened in the shoe lockers this morning."

Torako shrugged. "You mean all that laughing? I heard it, but I didn't see what happened."

"It seems someone filled Ohzawa-san's locker with mud, and she tells me _you_ had something to do with it," the principal said accusingly.

She shrugged, and was suddenly glad for all the opportunities to perfect her innocent act. "Well I don't know what to tell you, I had nothing to do with it. You can ask Oikawa-san if you want, we got here at the same time." Then she added: "I'm sure there are other witnesses who could back me up too."

The principal glared at her, then nodded. "We'll see about that," he said and entered the classroom, pulling Torako by her arm. "Attention please! Did anyone here see Takino here arrive at school today?"

Oikawa raised her hand, along with five others.

"And did you see her do anything to Ohzawa's locker?"

"No, she just went to her own," Oikawa said, and five others confirmed that she hadn't gone near Ohzawa's shoe locker that morning.

He looked at the class, then at Torako. "I see. I'm sorry to have disturbed you." He was leaving just as their homeroom teacher was arriving.

"What was Watanabe doing here?" Okabe-sensei asked, then turned to Torako as she was headed back to her desk. "You pull something, Takino?"

She shook her head and sat down. "No, but he thought I had." She glanced over to see Asagi and Oikawa suppressing their grins.

"Somebody filled Ohzawa's locker with mud," someone said, and the room burst into laughter.

Okabe barked a laugh before he caught himself. "Ahem. Sorry. Not cool, guys. Whoever did it? Not cool. Clear?"

Heads nodded as the students tried not to giggle and Ohzawa tried to shrink into her seat and disappear.

--

"Why do you still do that?" Asagi asked as Torako pulled her top over her head.

"Do what?" she asked.

"What do you mean, 'Do what,'" Asagi said as she turned her back and reached back to unhook her bra. "Wear your swimsuit under your uniform."

Torako let her skirt drop to the floor and kicked it up into the air to catch it. "Just a habit, I guess." She glanced at their PE teacher seated in the corner. "Besides," she said in a quieter voice, "Kusanagi-sensei gives me the creeps." Were the teachers even supposed to _be_ in the changing rooms with the students?

"Well stop it," Asagi said as she put on the top piece of her own swimsuit. "It's childish."

Torako laughed derisively. "As if you're in any position to say what is or isn't childish."

Asagi finished changing and turned to face her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Torako shrugged. "Nothing, just that sometimes I wonder if you and Fuuka shouldn't switch grades."

Asagi turned to Oikawa. "Yuko, my uke is sassing me!"

Oikawa looked back and forth between them. "That's unfortunate," she said in a _Don't even _think _about dragging me into your weird business _tone and left the changing room. As Asagi and Torako went to follow her they noticed two other girls who'd been listening to their conversation.

"What?" Torako asked.

"You guys are weird," one of them said.

Asagi continued the conversation in hushed tones as they did calisthenics. "But seriously, why don't you ever change into your swimsuit? Are you self-conscious or something?"

Torako sighed. "A little, yeah." She looked over and saw Asagi looking at her expectantly. "What's with that look?"

"Nothing," Asagi said, "I'm just waiting for you to blame your sister like you do for everything else."

"I do not," Torako said.

"Anyway, I'm going to cure you of your shyness. Tonight we're going to a bath house."

"You've decided it, just like that?" Torako asked.

Asagi nodded as she stretched. "Yep. Should I invite Tomo too?"

"_No!_" Torako hissed.

Asagi thought it over. "I don't know, it could be fun. What about you Oikawa, want to come?"

Oikawa smiled and shook her head. "Thank you, but I have to help clean my house after school."

"Oh, that's too bad," Asagi said. "Guess it's just us three then!"

_Hooray, _Torako thought, _I get to take a bath with Tweedledumb and Tweedlegay._

"Okay," Kusanagi-sensei bellowed, "everybody in the pool!"

--

"I'm serious, she was watching us the whole time we were changing," Torako said before taking another bite of chicken.

"That's creepy," Oikawa said, and Asagi nodded her assent as she chewed. "Why hasn't she been fired?"

Torako and Asagi both shrugged as they ate. As Torako reached for another piece of chicken a shadow fell over her desk, and she looked up to see Ohzawa glaring down at her. "Did you want something?" she asked nonchalantly.

Ohzawa passed her eyes over Asagi and Oikawa before leaning down and getting into Torako's face. "I know you did that this morning," she said.

"Are you still on that?" Torako asked as she chewed.

"Don't fuck with me, Takino!" Ohzawa hissed. "You made me look like an idiot in front of everyone!"

"Judging by what I've heard about your grades I'd say you do a fine enough job of that on your own," Torako said. In reality she hadn't heard anything about Ohzawa's grades, but she didn't strike her as the sharpest tack in the box. "Besides, I have an alibi and you know it."

"I know you did it, that's what I _know,_" Ohzawa insisted.

Oikawa giggled.

"What are you laughing at, Four-eyes?" Ohzawa demanded.

Oikawa quieted down.

"This isn't over," she hissed at Torako before returning to her own circle of friends. When Torako looked over she saw Hagiwara looking at her. She made eye contact and held it, and Hagiwara quickly looked away and hunched over her food.

"I thought she was going to take a swing at you," Oikawa said quietly. "How can you act so cool during that?"

"Torako's good at bluffing," Asagi said, her voice carrying a hint of what almost sounded like pride. "You should have seen her last week."

Oikawa shivered. "If somebody got in my face like that I'd probably start crying," she said half-jokingly. "If I got in a fight I'd probably get killed."

"So about this morning," Asagi turned to Oikawa. "What happened when she opened the locker?"

Oikawa giggled around her sandwich and waited to swallow before answering. "A little bit fell out, but most of it stayed in there. She probably would've been okay if she'd left it, but then she reached in and started digging her shoes out and things got a little messy."

Asagi laughed. "Idiot," she said.

"We'll need to come up with something even better next time," Oikawa said.

"I'll let you two handle it this time," Torako said.

"I might have an idea," Asagi said with a devious smirk. Torako got the feeling she was going to learn to fear that look.

--

When Torako opened her shoe locker at the end of the day it was stacked to the top with porn magazines.

"I'm actually a little impressed," Oikawa said as she helped Torako look for her sneakers. "I'm surprised she was able to get even one of those in school."

"I'm not," Asagi said as she inspected the stack. No explanation was offered, and neither Torako nor Oikawa were sure they wanted one anyway.

"Bitch stole my shoes," Torako muttered.

"You can't find them?" Asagi sounded surprisingly worried for someone whose own shoes were safe and sound. How far was she going to take this "protective seme" act?

"Why would she leave them anyway," Torako said as she sat heavily on the bench. "I liked those shoes, too."

Asagi sat down next to her and began taking off her own shoes. "Here, wear mine."

"You don't have to do that," Torako said. "I'll just wear my inside shoes."

Asagi plopped the shoes in her lap. "No, I insist."

Torako sighed and began putting them on. At least they fit, though they felt a bit tight. "What are you going to wear then?" she asked.

Asagi had already stood up and crossed to a random locker. Without hesitating she opened it and took out the shoes. "They even fit!" she said as she tried them on. "First try, too."

"Asagi, you can't steal someone's shoes," Oikawa said.

"Oh it'll be fine," she said with a disimissive hand-wave. "I'll return them tomorrow." She stood and returned to Torako's locker. "Okay, you two open your bags, we'll each have to take some of these."

"What?" Torako asked.

"Well we can't leave them here and they won't all fit in mine," Asagi said as she drew out what she guessed was about a third of the stack. "Yuko-chan, c'mere."

Oikawa made a whining sound, but held her bag out anyway.

--

"Oh, I almost forgot," Asagi said as they left the school, and got out her phone. She dialed a couple numbers and then sighed. "Oh, right. You smashed your sister's phone." She turned to Torako. "Has she got a new one yet?"

"Yeah," Torako said. _One without a camera this time, _she thought happily.

"Is the number the same?"

_Say no say no say no say no . . ._ "Yeah." _What the hell!_

Asagi immediately finished dialing. "Tomo-chan! It's Asagi. Torako's friend?"

Torako cast a weary look at Oikawa. Oikawa looked like someone who'd walked into a movie halfway through and didn't know the plot.

Asagi continued into the phone. "So Torako and I were going to a bath house tonight and I was wondering if you'd want to come. Yomi? Oh, sure, bring her along too. Great, bye." She shut the phone off and put it back in her pocket. "She's inviting Yomi too," she said.

_Good, _Torako thought. She'd have someone to help keep her sister in line then.

"I'm so excited," Asagi said. "It's been so long since I went to a public bath."

Torako couldn't help but wonder if that was all she was excited about. She still couldn't make heads or tails of Asagi's behavior towards her half the time, but she couldn't quite shake the suspicion that this was all just a ploy to get to see her naked. _Of course, _she thought, _that means I'll see her naked too. And not just from the back like when we change for the pool._

Suddenly Torako couldn't decide whether she was dreading or anticipating this.

--

Asagi was waiting at the gate when Torako left the house, followed by Tomo. Naturally the former was the one stuck carrying everything.

"Yomi couldn't come," was the first thing Tomo said to Asagi as she stepped out onto the sidewalk. As they started down the street together anyone watching would never have guessed they were all the same age, and especially not that Torako and Tomo were twins; Tomo looked like she was still in middle school, and Torako may as well have been born old.

"That's too bad," Asagi said. Not that she knew Yomi enough to care either way.

"That _is _too bad," Torako said. "We could have used her to handle Idiot here," she said with a nod in her sister's direction.

"So do you know if there are any good bath houses around here?" Asagi asked.

"You don't even know where we're going?" Torako asked incredulously.

"I believe in being spontaneous," she said. "It makes life more interesting, don't you think?"

"What if there weren't any bath houses close by?" Torako asked.

"Then we'd go further," Asagi said with a shrug.

Torako sighed and shook her head.

"Tora-chan, isn't there that one near the library?" Tomo asked.

"Oh, right." Torako nodded. "Is it still open though? We haven't been there in years."

"I think so," Tomo said.

"Let's go then," Asagi announced. "Lead the way, Tomo-chan!"

"We're doomed," Torako mumbled.

Sure enough, the bath house near the library was still in business, though it didn't seem to see a lot of it; from the looks if things, they had the place all to themselves. Soon they had paid the admission fee and gotten their lockers, and were quickly in the changing area. As Asagi and Tomo both began to strip down without hesitation Torako sighed and pulled her shirt off over her head. Before she could see again she felt someone poke her ribs.

Asagi giggled. "Hee hee, you're so skinny, Torako."

Torako didn't say anything as she folded the shirt and put it in her locker.

"I know they say guys like skinnier women, but that might be unhealthy," Asagi continued.

"It's because she smokes so much," Tomo said. "That's probably why she looks so old too."

Torako turned to her sister as she unbuckled her belt. "Shut up."

"Right, I heard smoking suppresses your appetite," Asagi said. "It gives you cancer, too. Torako, have you ever thought about quitting?"

"No willpower," Torako said as she stepped out of her pants. She was putting them away when Tomo hugged her from behind.

"Tora-chan, I don't want you to die," she said, doing a bad job of sounding sad.

"At least I'd get some peace and quiet that way," Torako said. "Get off me."

Tomo unclasped Torako's bra as she disengaged.

"_Hey!_" She clamped her hands over herself reflexively.

"I don't know why you even wear one," Tomo said, "you're so flat."

"Shut up!" Torako felt her face heating up. "You're no better off!"

Tomo smiled proudly and thrust her chest out. "I'll have you know mine have been developing quite nicely lately," she said, then pointed. "Not as well as Asagi's, though."

They both turned to stare at Asagi, and it was finally _her _turn to feel uncomfortable. "Let's get in the water," she finally said. Torako stepped out of her panties before following them to the bath.

"Have you tried rubbing on them?" Asagi asked as they got settled. "I hear that's supposed to make them get bigger."

"I don't think that's true," Torako said, sinking lower into the steaming water. "Do we have to talk about this?"

"She wouldn't let me do it, either."

They both turned to look at Tomo.

"Why the _hell _would I let _you _rub on my tits?!" Torako demanded.

Tomo just shrugged. "I'd let you rub _mine,_" she said.

Torako hung her head. What was _wrong_ with her?

"What's the big deal? It doesn't count if we're sist-"

Torako interrupted her with a raised hand. "End of conversation!"

"But-"

"_Over!_"

"I wouldn't worry about it," Asagi said. "I think they look cute."

Torako crossed her arms over her chest and blushed furiously.

"Oh, Tomo-chan," Asagi said across a mortified Torako. "I liked that picture you sent me."

"Really? I had more but Tora-chan smashed my phone."

"Where'd you get that, anyway?"

"Matsushima's World of Smut, on Musashi Street," Tomo said.

"And they didn't card you?"

Tomo shook her head. "I made Yomi go in and get it, since she looks older. They didn't ask for her age though."

Asagi looked at Torako. "Remember that idea I told you I had?" she asked devilishly.

She shook her head and looked at her pleadingly. "No. Asagi, _no._"

"Torako, you're the oldest-looking high school student I've ever seen. Nobody would _ever _suspect you."

"I'm not doing _that._"

"I could make it an order," Asagi threatened playfully as she sat up out of the water.

Torako couldn't believe she was actually trying to seduce her into doing what she wanted, or that it seemed to be working. Finally her weak will inevitably bent, and she sighed. "Whatever it is you're planning I'm not spending a single yen on it," she said.

Asagi clapped her hands and sat back down. "Hooray, I know Tora-chan's weakness! Don't worry, I'll provide the money."

"Hey Tora-chan, Tora-chan." Torako turned to see Tomo sitting half out of the water. "Treat me and Yomi to a movie."

Torako grabbed her head and forced her under the water.

--

Asagi waved goodbye to Torako and Tomo and headed home. _Ahh, that was fun._ She still couldn't believe those two were related at all, let alone twins. Tomo had spent almost the entire time tormenting Torako, and Asagi had been unable to resist joining in. She wasn't sure she'd seen anyone blush so hard in her life; she was half expecting Torako's face to suddenly become a mass of bruises as the capillaries burst.

As fun as it was Asagi couldn't help but feel a little bad for teasing her friend so relentlessly. She obviously didn't enjoy it, and there were a couple instances where Asagi had had to force herself to back off. _The human conscience really is an inconvenient thing sometimes, _she thought as she felt her smile fade. At the same time she wondered why she felt so bad about it. After all, she teased her friends all the time, right? There was even a time in middle school when Oikawa had refused to talk to her for three days until she'd promised not to make fun of her glasses anymore. Back then she hadn't felt remorse for making her friend feel embarassed so much as annoyance at her fun being ruined, but this time was different and she genuinely felt bad. Was it because she was growing up, or was it something else?

It didn't help that Asagi still couldn't quite figure out how she felt about Torako. Some days she was sure they were just friends, but then those feelings that had prompted her to sit down to eat lunch with her last week would flare up again. She couldn't explain that away as mere friendship, nor the protective anger she'd felt when Torako had been taken out into the hall that morning.

As she walked home through the darkness punctuated by the streetlamps Asagi wished that emotions weren't so damned complicated. Was this what her mother meant when she'd told her she wouldn't want to relive her teenage years for all the world? She suddenly found herself envying Tomo; whatever private demons that lunatic had gnawing away at her psyche, it was plain for all to see that she didn't let them affect her upbeat view of the world.

_Says the girl who barely even knows her,_ Asagi reminded herself.

--

Getting up so early that morning had come around to bite her, and Torako was in bed almost immediately after dinner. Almost none of her homework was done, but she had too much on her mind to worry about school anyway. As she crawled under the covers and wrapped one arm around her pillow the door opened and in strode her sister.

"Knock," Torako said into her pillow.

"Knock knock," Tomo said as she looked over her sister's bookshelf.

"What are you doing?" Torako asked as she watched her tiredly.

She shrugged. "Looking for something to read." She went from books to manga. The selection was disappointing as usual; Tomo's sister was too _cool _for manga, apparently.

"I'm too tired to do anything," Torako said through a yawn.

"I don't mind." Tomo took a seat at her desk.

Torako sighed. "Fine, you can hang out here, but be quiet."

"I will." Tomo looked at her before opening the manga she'd picked, a dense science fiction title halfway through a series she'd never read before.

Torako closed her eyes and began to doze. She could see her sister was in one of her quiet thoughtful moods tonight, and knew she'd better fall asleep while she could. There was no telling how long the calm would last.

--

Asagi's thoughts had moved on from Torako to who she was going to copy her homework from tomorrow when she saw someone up ahead, walking in her direction. When she saw a wisp of smoke emerge in the light of the streetlamp she felt a reflexive tingle of excitement, but she immediately knew it couldn't be Torako; aside from the obvious fact that she'd just left her at her house, Torako was tall, skinny, and had short hair that was always getting in her eyes. Whoever this person was they were a lot shorter and had longer hair. _Ah, it's Hagiwara,_ Asagi thought. _Wonderful, Ohzawa's right-hand flunky. _She didn't feel particularly nervous; while Ohzawa actually looked as tough as she acted half the time, Hagiwara looked about as intimidating as a newborn kitten. _I didn't know she smoked,_ she thought.

Just as Asagi recognized her, Hagiwara's eyes lifted from the sidewalk and met hers. Her cigarette paused halfway through its trip up to her lips, and she seemed to hesitate just a fraction of a step.

_Oh my, _Asagi thought._ Is she _scared _of me?_

Well she _was_ friends with Torako, she supposed. Before declaring their friendship to be official last week she'd been well aware of the perpetually frowning girl's reputation as a scrapper (as oblivious as she may have acted with her), and while she didn't see anything particularly threatening about her she could see how some would. Still, she'd never expected any of that intimidation to transfer onto her. She wondered if Hagiwara was afraid she would send Torako after her or something; after all, she'd been there for Torako's showdown with Ohzawa, and had seen her protective attitude on display.

Hagiwara's eyes locked back onto the sidewalk. As they passed each other Asagi saw her glance up at her face, and she nodded and smiled in response. _Let them be the rude ones,_ she thought. And besides, she enjoyed playing the devious schemer hiding behind an innocent face.

When she got home Asagi took off her shoes and headed for the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator and poured herself some juice before grabbing a half-empty bag of potato chips and headed up to her room. After sitting sat down at her desk she switched on the radio and picked up her schoolbag from where it was leaning against the foot of her bed.

As she chewed Asagi pulled out her homework for tomorrow and wondered which one she should do. For some reason Oikawa hated her copying her English assignments, so she'd probably try to get that one done tonight. History she could probably get away with not doing, though she'd have to copy fast if she didn't want to get busted by Okabe. He didn't like it when his own homeroom students slacked off on the subject he taught. She may as well do her classical Japanese assignment too, it was just a few short questions this time.

_Okay, English and classics it is then._ She opened her book and got to work.

--

That night, Torako dreamt of Asagi holding her in her arms. No words were exchanged, no lewd acts were performed; they just lay there, taking comfort in the contact and the warmth of each other's bodies. Then the alarm clock went off, and after she'd shut it up Torako realized she could still feel an arm around her. Craning her head to look awkwardly over her shoulder, she saw Tomo's sleeping, drooling face.

She sighed and rubbed her eyes before lifting her sister's arm off of her and sitting up. Tomo hadn't crawled into bed with her in years; at least since that big fight they'd had when they were twelve, when they'd told each other they wished they were dead. They'd spent nearly a week as the bitterest of enemies after that, until Torako woke up one morning to find her arm around her sister. When asked why she'd slept in her bed, Tomo's only explanation was that she missed her.

_So what's on her mind this time? _she wondered as she looked down at her. She wasn't jealous of Asagi, was she? After all, she had Yomi. Why couldn't Torako have a friend to spend all her time with too? But as she thought about it she realized she already had until Asagi had come crashing into her life like a runaway locomotive. Whether she liked it or not, Tomo and Yomi had been her best (and sometimes only) friends through most of her life, and she and Yomi had been the only two constant presences in Tomo's. (With the exception of their parents and other family of course, but they didn't count in situations like this.) Now that an outsider had arrived to show an interest in Torako's company, was Tomo afraid she'd be stolen away from her? _That's idiotic,_ Torako thought. _We live in the same house, of course we'd still see each other. _But as soon as she told herself that she knew it wasn't that simple.

Suddenly she was struck with a feeling of nostalgia, for when they'd been closer. Torako hadn't been so different from her sister when she was younger. As children they'd been inseparable. Then as they grew older their personalities grew increasingly divergent, until they began to argue more than they would play. Their formerly unbreakable bond was increasingly strained, until it finally snapped and they each went rocketing off to their respective poles, Tomo a hyperactive loudmouth and Torako a taciturn stoneface. Though they were still each other's most constant companions, something had gone, and it sometimes felt as if they were simply going through the motions of being twin sisters as opposed to simply childhood friends.

As she watched her sleep Torako felt a profound sadness then, and rested a hand tenderly on Tomo's head. As much as she got on her nerves she loved her sister, and hated the feeling that they would only keep drifting further and further apart. She wished she could bring back those days when they would spend hours raising hell around the house until they were kicked out and unleashed on the neighborhood, but she knew that they'd both changed too much. All she could do was vow to herself that she wouldn't let herself grow distant to the point that their relationship could no longer be salvaged.

After several minutes she lifted her hand from Tomo's head and shook her roughly by the shoulder. "Hey bonkura, get up."

Tomo blinked her eyes and looked up at her. "Oh, morning Tora-chan," she said blearily. "What're you doing in my bed?"

"You're in _my_ bed," Torako said as she stood and stretched.

Tomo looked around and sat up. "Oh, right. You're not mad, are you?"

"No, it's fine," Torako said as she headed to the bathroom to take a leak and brush her teeth. As she stepped into the hall she looked back at her sister and thought she saw a smile on her face.

* * *

**-Author Notes-**

I don't think I've been exposed to the seedy underbelly of the internet enough yet; I still feel kind of skeevy writing about naked teenage girls.

I don't know how familiar the average Japanese schoolgirl is with Alice in Wonderland, but I thought the "Tweedledumb and Teedlegay" thing was funny so I used it. If it's too jarring we can always just say it was changed from some traditional Japanese thing that Americans wouldn't understand during the translation process.


	7. Swordplay

Torako waved to Tomo and Yomi as they took off for school before heading in her own direction. As she walked she looked up at the glowering sky and wondered if she shouldn't have brought an umbrella. Had either of her parents said anything about rain as she was eating breakfast or stalking out the door? She couldn't remember. Was it getting close to the rainy season already?

_Well, if it rains it rains,_ she thought as she reached into her jacket for her morning cigarette. She didn't relish the thought of getting home soaked, but she didn't recoil in melodramatic horror from the idea like some girls she knew either. _Maybe Asagi has an umbrella?_ Hell, knowing Asagi, she'd probably just swipe a couple from the school if she hadn't thought to bring one. Torako thought back to those shoe's she'd taken and wondered if she was really going to return them. _Ah, dammit._ Speaking of which, she still had Asagi's shoes at her house.

She glanced down at her own feet and wondered if her uncle's old army boots were really a good idea to wear to school. _Well I didn't wanna search around for my other sneakers, _she thought. And besides, they fit. (Her parents could never seem to get over how much she apparently took after her uncle, in appearance and body type if not in personality. Every time he would visit they were constantly pretending to mistake them for siblings, much to their annoyance and the unending amusement of Tomo.)

"Hey Torako!"

She turned and saw Asagi heading up from the point where their routes joined. "Am I running early or are you running late?" she asked and waved.

Torako slowed so she could catch up. "I think you're early," she said, though she doubted Asagi was really unsure.

Asagi nodded and changed the subject. "So hey, you've got that assignment for World History, right?

"Yeah wh-" Torako stared ahead and then pressed the heels of her hands to her forehead. "Aw, _crap!_"

--

"Honestly you two, you really should do your own homework," Oikawa said as she watched Torako and Asagi hurriedly scribble down answers from her notebook.

"Why start now?" Asagi asked, only half joking.

"I usually do," Torako said as she snatched the notebook away from Asagi to read an answer.

"Asagi, you just got that question wrong on purpose," Oikawa said as she looked over her shoulder.

"Well of course," she said, "it would look suspicious if I suddenly got every single question right." She looked across the desk. "You should do that too, Torako."

"I always get good scores in history anyway."

"How do you know all my answers are right?" Oikawa asked.

"Because I know _you,_" Asagi said.

"Are you almost done?" asked the boy who usually sat in front of Torako. "I kinda need my seat back."

Torako sat back. "Finished."

"Almost there," Asagi assured the impatient student, whose name Torako realized she couldn't even remember. "Okay, done," she said as she stood and returned the notebook to Oikawa. "Thanks Yuko-chan, you're a lifesaver."

"And you're irresponsible," Oikawa said as she took it back. She sighed. "Oh well. At least you didn't ask to copy my English assignment too."

Torako pressed her hands to her head again. "Agh! I need to see that."

"Did you even do _any_ homework last night?!" Oikawa asked incredulously, but got out her English notebook anyway.

Torako looked at her embarassedly as she took it. " . . . Yes?"

"Remember Tora-chan," Asagi said before heading to her own desk before class began, "we need to go shopping today."

"I hate you," Torako said as she wrote down answers.

"Didn't stop you from drooling all over my boobs last night," Asagi said as the bell rang and she headed for her desk.

Torako looked up in horror to see Oikawa and the boy in front of her staring.

"Wha . . . I didn't . . . mind your own business!"

--

By lunchtime Torako had already had another student ask her if she and Asagi were "more than just friends." She felt a little ashamed that she'd taken full advantage of her undeserved reputation when she'd growled at him to shut up. Still, it had worked.

"I would've thought you'd be used to being taken for a lesbian," Asagi said as they ate.

Torako glared across the desk at her while Oikawa just observed from the sidelines. It looked like she'd be eating lunch with them from now on; Maiko Aramaki, the third girl in her and Asagi's original lunch circle, had already begun eating with the class's other members of the kendo club.

"So anyway, I think we should bring your sister along when we go downtown today. I'm not sure where that place is."

"What place?" Oikawa asked.

"A smut shop," Asagi said without a hint of shame.

There was a long and uncomfortable silence before Oikawa shook her head. "I'm starting to think you're _both _gay."

"Oh hush, it's for our next attack," Asagi said, giving her a playful shove with her elbow.

"You already did that though," Torako pointed out.

"Yes, but this time it'll be _bigger._" She laughed nastily. "You'll see. Anyway it's just to buy time until I think of something _really_ good. Do you want to come, Yuko-chan?"

Oikawa looked at her like she'd just invited her to do shots of power steering fluid. "No. Of course I don't."

Asagi shrugged. "Suit yourself. It's not like I'd make _you_ go in and-dahh!" Asagi suddenly blurted and leaned forward as she was hit in the back of the head by a wadded-up piece of bread. "What the hell?"

They all three turned to see Ohzawa's group laughing at them.

"Nice shot, Ohzawa!" Asagi said with a smile and a thumbs-up before turning back. "Those people are getting on my nerves."

Across the room someone stood up with double handfuls of mashed corn and screamed "FOOOOOD FIIIIIIGHT!!" before being smacked over the head and forced to sit back down by his girlfriend.

--

Torako's stolen sneakers were back in her locker at the end of the day. Unfortunately, they were slashed to ribbons, and startlingly venomous insults and threats were written on the rubber surfaces.

"This is actually legitimately creepy," Torako said as she and Asagi each inpected a shoe.

"I'm surprised she didn't piss all over them or smear them with blood," Asagi muttered.

Torako looked at her. "You were _joking _when you said she hospitalized a guy with a bat, right?"

Asagi nodded. "Yeah, but I'd watch my back anyway." She lifted the mangled shoe. "People with all their screws tightened don't normally do things like this." She sounded genuinely worried.

Torako nodded and stuffed her shoe into her bag before taking the other from Asagi. As they headed for the door Asagi got out her phone and began scrolling through her contact list. "Slight change of plans," she explained. "Yuko-chan! Yeah. You know that idea you had? The one with the animal parts."

"_What are you doing?!_" Torako hissed.

Asagi ignored her. "Yeah, it's escalated. Shredded Torako's shoes. I know. No hurry, I'd like to wait a while and plan it perfectly anyway." She shut off her phone and smiled. "Okay, everything's taken care of."

"What are you planning?" Filling a locker with mud was one thing, but adding blood and body parts into the mix was far beyond the pale.

"I'm not entirely sure yet, but whatever it is it's going to win us this war," Asagi made a show of cracking her knuckles (though she didn't really) and cackled. "The prank equivalant of Hiroshima and Nagasaki!"

A pair of passing third-years stared at her.

"Let's just hope she doesn't pull a Nanking on us first," Torako muttered.

"A what?"

" . . . Never mind."

"Anyway, we should find out where Ohzawa lives, too."

"Aren't you going a little overboard here?" Torako asked. "What she did was mean and a little scary, but it's not like she cut _me_ to ribbons."

Asagi looked at her angrily. It was the first time Torako had ever seen her like that, and it was a little unsettling. "No, but she implied that she'd like to. _Nobody _threatens you like that and gets away with it, understand?"

" . . . Yeah, okay."

"And I plan to make sure she knows _never _to pull anything like that again. And you're going to help me."

"Remind me never to get you mad at me," Torako said.

Asagi laughed and threw an arm over her bony shoulders. "Oh Tora-chan, I couldn't get mad at you."

"Don't be so sure of that," Torako said as thunder rumbled lazily outside. "Ah, damn."

Asagi took off around a corner. "Wait here." Just as Torako had expected, she showed up a minute later holding two umbrellas. "I'd have just gotten one, but then you'd have to go without when we split up."

Torako took the green one. "Thanks." As soon as they got to the doors it began to rain, only further supporting Torako's theory that the universe was sentient and inherently hostile towards her.

As they walked home listening to the drumming of the rain on their umbrellas, Torako couldn't help but feel there was something different about Asagi's silence. Whenever she glanced over she saw her looking ahead or at the sidewalk with a pensive look on her face. "What's with you?" she asked finally.

Asagi looked at her. "Mm? Oh, nothing, just thinking." A moment, then: "Listen, I kind of wanted to apologize for last night."

"Huh?"

"You know, at the bath house, making you uncomfortable like that. I felt kinda bad about it afterwards."

Torako dismissed it with a shake of her head. "Oh, no, don't worry, I'm used to that. I live with Tomo, after all." She hesitated, then: "Thanks, though."

"No problem. Maybe next time we can go someplace you'll actually enjoy," she said with a laugh.

"I had fun last night," Torako said. "Part of the time anyway." She looked out at the rain. "So if it keeps up like this are we still going to that shop?"

Asagi shrugged. "I don't know. I like walking in the rain, so maybe."

Torako almost protested, but didn't. She liked the rain too, but she really didn't want to go to that shop. As they reverted to their usual silence lightning flashed, and a minute later thunder crashed before rolling off into oblivion. She turned and looked in the direction the wind seemed to be blowing from and saw dark gray extending over the horizon. Above them the clouds didn't seem to be moving especially fast. "And if Tomo doesn't want to go in this?"

"Well then I suppose we might have to postpone then." She looked at Torako then. "Don't go trying to influence her," she added.

_Yeah, good luck enforcing that,_ she thought as she got out her phone and looked up Tomo in the contacts.

"Tora-chan!" Tomo's voice squawked into her ear.

"Hey," Torako said. "Listen, Asagi wanted to go to that shop today, and she thought it'd be best if you came along too since we don't really know how to get there."

"I'm not going," came the swift reply.

"Because of the rain?" Torako asked.

"Huh?"

"Right, I'll tell Asagi."

She closed the phone. "She doesn't want to go."

Asagi sighed. "Okay, I guess you're off the hook. _For today._"

Torako resisted the urge to breathe a sigh of relief.

Finally they reached the dividing point and stopped. "Well, I'll see you later," Asagi said.

"See you." Torako waved and continued on her way. _Dodged that bullet, _she thought as she went alone. She looked beyond the umbrella at the neighborhood, turned silvery gray by the falling rain. Every now and then lightning would flash, followed momentarily by the percussive boom of thunder.

_SSSKKEEERRRRRRRKKKKKKCCHHH__**BOOOOOOOOM**_

Torako flinched reflexively as a bolt shot between the clouds directly above her. She increased her pace, suddenly viewing the umbrella in her hand less as a form of protection and more as a lightning rod. It was with great relief that she saw her house growing steadily nearer.

--

Because Tomo had apparently decided to wait out the storm at her school, it was quite a while before she walked into the living room.

"You're all wet," Torako said from where she reclined on the couch.

Tomo moaned, overly dramatic as always. "Uuuu, it started raining again after we'd left the school," she whined.

"Well hurry up and change, you're dripping all over the floor."

Tomo clomped up the stairs as Torako focused her attention back on her magazine and wished she had a snowball's chance in Hell of ever being able to afford the line of camera lenses being reviewed. _I _would_ save a lot of money if I quit smoking, _she thought. _But if I didn't have something to calm my nerves around here I'd probably go insane. _Maybe she should try getting a job. Maybe next year.

Tomo came bounding down the stairs. "Where are mom and dad?" she asked as she gallumphed into the living room.

Torako didn't look away from her magazine. "Mom's shopping with Itou-san, dad's working late."

"So it's just you and me here?"

"It would seem so." She turned a page.

Tomo went into the kitchen then, before returning with a soda and an open bag of potato chips. After grabbing the TV remote up off the coffee table she went to the couch, and Torako pulled her feet in to make room for her to sit down.

"So why didn't you want to go to that shop today?" she asked after a few minutes.

Tomo shrugged. "Well you didn't want to go, so I didn't either."

"Since when are you so considerate?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're usually a self-centered egomaniac," Torako said, lowering the magazine to glare at her.

"That's _my _line!" Tomo protested.

"Like hell! Anyway, how'd you know I didn't want to go?"

"Because you're _you,_ stupid." Tomo was looking at the TV again as if their little argument just then had never happened. "You never want to do anything anymore."

"Of course I do." Torako went back to her magazine. "You just always want to do stupid things."

"Let's have a swordfight!" Tomo turned to her with bright eyes.

_Case in point,_ she thought. "I don't know if that's a good idea." The last time they'd fought with their wooden swords was when they were eleven. Tomo had gone a little overboard, and Torako came away from the battle with a hairline fracture in her humerus.

Tomo lept up from the couch and wailed. "I wanna have a swordfight!"

"Aren't you a little old for tantrums?"

"Swordfight! Swordfight! _Swordfight swordfight swoooooordfiiiiiiight!!_" Tomo yanked the magazine out of Torako's hands and hurled it across the room.

"Hey!"

"I won't leave you alone until we have a swordfight! I'll scream! I'll cry! I'll tell mom and dad you beat me!"

Torako pressed her hands over her eyes. "Fine," she said. "Just please, shut up." As usual, she couldn't help feeling she was giving in way too easily.

The word _fine_ had barely left her mouth when Tomo was charging up the stairs and throwing open the door of her closet. Torako followed at her own pace, passing by her now-armed sister and opening her own closet and wondering if she even still _had _her sword. She was a little disappointed to find that she did. "Are you sure we should be doing this in the house?" she asked as she joined her sister in the hallway.

"Fighting in the rain _would_ be more dramatic," Tomo said, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.

"That's not what I meant." They headed down the stairs. "Every time you start swinging something things tend to get smashed."

"I'll be careful," Tomo promised.

"Do you even know what that word means?"

"Okay, just for that you're the evil warlord."

"We're assigning roles?"

Tomo nodded emphatically. "Of course! It's no fun just fighting for no reason."

"Funny, you and Yomi sure do that a lot," Torako muttered as they reached the living room and she pulled the coffee table over to one side.

Tomo either ignored that or didn't catch it. "I'm the brave and honorable ronin hired by the local peasants to put an end to your reign of terror, of course."

Torako took her place across from her and swung the sword experimentally. It had been quite a while since she'd picked it up, and she wasn't feeling too confident about this. "Are you sure you're not the bumbling mercenary with delusions of grandeur?" she asked as she spun the sword in her hand.

Tomo pointed dramatically. "Your insults will not work on me, warlord! I, the great Tomo Takino, am here to put an end to your tyranny!"

Torako sighed. They'd started already? "Um, prepare to die, foolish ronin."

Tomo raised her sword. "_You_ are the one who will die! TORYAAAAAA!!" she shouted before charging forward and swinging the sword down.

Torako dove out of the way. That could have really hurt had it landed. "Watch it, geez!" They were supposed to be swinging at the _swords,_ not each other.

"No mercy for the evil, you monster!" Tomo pressed the offensive, backing her towards the couch. Torako desperately swatted at Tomo's blade with her own, knocking it aside before jumping onto the couch and vaulting over the back. As Tomo dove in pursuit she felt herself starting to get into the spirit, and reminded herself that her sister's only mental setting was "Act first and think later." As long as she acted so impulsively, there would be a way to outwit her. _Just need to keep from getting nailed, _she thought as she bent low to dodge another swing and ran for the kitchen. As Tomo pursued her around the table she grabbed the chairs and pulled them into her path before heading back into the living room and turning to face her opponent.

This time Torako was ready, and she was actually able to meet Tomo's blade with her own. As they pushed against each other she tried to remember any tricks from all the samurai movies they'd watched as kids, but nothing came to mind. Finally she just resorted to hooking her foot behind Tomo's and tripping her up. "No fair!" she shouted as she crashed to the floor.

"Fair fighters lose wars," Torako said as she took several steps back and waited for her to get back on her feet. Tomo charged forward with a scream, but Torako stepped out of the way and swatted her on the ass with the flat of her blade as she passed before heading up the stairs.

"Get back here, coward!" Tomo shouted as she chased after her. Before she reached the top of the steps Torako had run to her room and locked the door behind her. She paused to listen to Tomo shouting and pounding on the other side before hopping up onto her bed and opening the window. She was starting to enjoy this.

As Tomo fought with the locked door Torako hurried over the roof to the window adjacent to hers before sliding it open and stepping into Tomo's room. As her sister was still banging on the locked door she charged into the hallway. "Hah!" she shouted as Tomo gaped at her.

"Wha . . . that's cheating! I don't know what you did but it's cheating!" she spluttered as Torako advanced on her, before turning and running back downstairs. Torako reached the living room just in time to catch a cushion in the face and fall backwards. As she was grabbing her dropped weapon and getting back to her feet Tomo came up from behind the couch, sword at her side and clearly expecting to win.

Tomo raised her sword in one hand before pausing to gloat. "Man Torako, you really suck at this." Torako swung her sword then, knocking Tomo's right out of her hand. "Hey, no fair!" Tomo protested.

Torako stood back and spread her hands. "Evil," was all she said.

Tomo ran for the sword with Torako in pursuit. As Tomo made a dive Torako slid across the hardwood floor on her damp feet, and they both reached it at the same moment. Tomo was just picking it up when she felt the end of Torako's sword tap on the back of her neck.

"Off goes your head," Torako said with a hint of triumph. That had been more fun than she'd expected.

Tomo hung her head in shame. "I am defeated," she sighed. "The peasants are doomed." Then she was back on her feet and back to normal. "Okay, let's do something else."

Torako leaned her sword against the side of the couch and sat down. "Okay, we can sit quietly and watch TV."

"That's boring!"

"I'm a boring person," Torako said with a shrug. Outside thunder rumbled.

Tomo sat down at the other end of the couch, but was back on her feet a minute later, punching buttons on her phone. "Yomi! I'm bored. Great, you can give me the answers. Oh come on!"

As Tomo headed upstairs Torako sighed and switched off the TV. Might as well get her homework out of the way too. She didn't want to have to copy poor Oikawa's answers two days in a row.

**--**

Torako was having a smoke on the roof outside her window when her phone buzzed on her desk. With an irritated sigh she balanced the cigarette on the sill and climbed in over her bed to scoop it up. "Hello?"

"My mom's a bitch," said Asagi's voice in her ear.

"What'd she do this time?" Torako asked as she climbed back out the window.

A sigh. "She was on my case for eating Fuuka's ice cream."

"Well you do kind of pick on your sisters a lot." Torako picked up her cigarette and dusted it off.

"No I don't," Asagi said. "I've got no problem with Ena."

"Well whatever, it probably wouldn't hurt to ease up a bit."

"Well geez, if I'd known you were going to take _her_ side I'd never have called."

"Now you sound like _my_ sister." She thought back to that morning and leaned against the side of the house.

"Speaking of which, how does tomorrow sound for our shopping trip?"

Torako just groaned.

"I'm not letting you wiggle out of it, I hope you know." There was a smile in her voice, and Torako wondered if Asagi was ever happier than when she was bossing someone around.

"I'll run it by Tomo," she said defeatedly.

"See that you do." She did a bad job of sounding stern. "So are you enjoying your magazines?"

"Gah." As soon as she'd gotten home yesterday Torako had shoved her third of the porn magazines from her locker into a dark corner of her closet under something big and heavy where she hoped no one would find them. For some reason simply throwing them out hadn't really occured to her. "You just _had _to remind me of those."

Asagi laughed. "Don't tell me you haven't at least _looked._"

"No, I haven't." Well, aside from when she'd first gotten them home.

"Liar."

"What, I haven't!" Torako insisted.

"Tora-chan, you can't know what an egg vibrator is and not look at porn."

Torako didn't say anything.

". . . You're blushing, aren't you?"

". . . No." She took a drag from the cigarette.

"That didn't sound too convincing," Asagi said, and then sighed. "I'm getting a low battery light, so I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah, okay."

After shutting off the phone Torako finished her cigarette and flicked it away before climbing back into the window. As she stretched she looked at the alarm clock. She wasn't particularly tired, but she'd probably better get to bed anyway. She'd kicked her jeans over by the laundry hamper and gotten her pajama bottoms out of the dresser when she glanced at the closet door. After a few moments of _Should I or shouldn't _I she draped the pajama bottoms over the dresser and locked her bedroom door before opening the closet.

* * *

**-Author Notes-**

Torako knows her history, it seems.


	8. A Brief Descent Into Hell

Torako was enjoying her Saturday by wasting it watching TV on the couch when Asagi called her back.

"Good morning!" she said, even though it was getting towards the afternoon. "Ready to go shopping?"

"Does it matter?"

Asagi laughed. "Of course not."

Torako sighed and got up from the couch. "I didn't think so."

"So about that, I was thinking," Asagi said, "it might be better if we do this one as soon as possible and leave the big finishing attack for when we've really got it planned out."

"I really think you're putting too much effort into this."

"You don't go halfway in war, Tora-chan. You crush the enemy until they can never be a threat to you ever again."

"When did you get so bloodthirsty?" Torako asked.

"Tora-chan, you've known me a little over a week," Asagi reminded her.

"Point taken." _Funny,_ she thought. Given how familiar Asagi acted with her sometimes it felt like longer.

"Anyway, how would _you _handle this? Just let it go at the mouse in the shoe?"

"I wouldn't have put that thing in her bag in the first place," Torako pointed out.

Asagi laughed again. "That's because you're _boring,_ Tora-chan." She was quiet for a moment. "I'll have to get some money from my parents. And make a list before we go."

Torako could feel her stomach clenching up in anticipated horror. Was it possible to actually _die _of shame?

"Come on, admit it, you're enjoying this. At least a little."

Torako sighed. _No point in denying it, I suppose._ "Sometimes. But that doesn't mean I don't know how bad this can turn."

"Relax, don't worry about it," Asagi said. "I'll handle covering our tracks, you just worry about doing the grunt work."

"At what point did I become your mule?"

"Need I remind you of our relationship, uke?"

_What kind of relationship _do_ we have?_ Torako wondered. Was this how Yomi felt with her sister? She just let that go. "I'll see what Tomo's up to and then call you back," she said.

"I'll be waaaaitiiiing!"

What was _with _her, anyway? Torako slapped her phone shut and headed up the stairs.

--

Torako took a deep breath and looked back across the street. Tomo and Asagi smiled and waved. _I'm going to kill you both, _she thought and turned back to the door in front of her before gathering up her strength and pulling it open and stepping into Matsushima's World of Smut. As if responding to an unseen pheromone signal, every head in the store turned to stare at her. Granted, there were only four other people there besides her, but it was still supremely embarassing.

Torako avoided eye contact with the other customers and concentrated on the Chinese classical music being pumped over the sound system as she hurried over to the wall of vibrators. Asagi's list was short and maddeningly vague: _Anything big and anatomically correct. Three egg vibrators, preferrably wireless. And a strap-on. _She did _not_ want to know what she wanted that last item for. With sweaty hands Torako picked out the last four things first, then filled the basket she'd picked up at the door with as many big, anatomically correct items as she figured she'd been given enough for.

_Asagi owes me so big for this shit,_ she thought. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a salaryman as old as her dad approaching, so she headed for the register. When she got there a check over her shoulder told her he was following behind. As he rang up her items the shopkeeper looked like he was trying to decide whether to speculate on what she would be doing with all this or to shoo the salaryman away.

"Um, excuse me . . ."

_Oh great._ "What?" Torako said without turning around.

"I can pay for all that, if you'd like."

She turned around and lifted her cigarette. "I can put this out in your eye, if you'd like."

The shopkeeper laughed. "I don't think she's interested, Hideki."

Torako turned back to pay, but Hideki didn't leave. He just stood there, fidgeting. She imagined she could feel his breath on her neck and felt her skin crawl. As she thanked the shopkeeper and headed for the door with her bags, she heard him shout.

"Hideki!"

As she pushed the door open with her shoulder she saw the salaryman was halfway between her and the register. He hesitated, then turned and returned to wherever he'd been lurking. The shopkeeper looked at her apologetically.

"How'd it go?" Asagi asked when she reached their bench.

"You owe me," Torako said as she shoved the bags towards them. "I am never setting foot in there again."

"Did you get everything?" Asagi asked as she and Tomo each took one.

They all started back to Asagi's. "Yeah, I got it all."

Asagi took one of the bags and looked inside. "Ooh, nice. This'll work nicely. Good job, Torako." Tomo poked through the other one.

Torako said nothing and wished she wasn't such a pushover.

"Tell you what," Asagi said, "I'll get you a pack of smokes as payment. Mild Evens, right?"

She sighed. Somehow that didn't seem like adequate compensation, but she got the feeling it was as good as she could expect. "Yeah, that's right."

"Hey Asagi, what're you gonna do with this?" Tomo asked, pointing into her bag at the strap-on's box.

"Oh, that's not for the prank," Asagi said, with a sidelong glance at Torako.

"What's that look for?" Tomo asked, her voice carrying a hint of accusation.

"Huh?" Torako asked. She hadn't noticed.

"Nothing," Asagi asked. _So Torako's not the only protective one,_ she thought. "I don't really have any plans for it, I just thought it might come in handy sometime."

"What possible situation could come up that you'd need one of those?"

Asagi glanced at Tomo and smirked. "I'm afraid if I tell you Tomo here will come after me."

"Speaking of which," Torako looked at Tomo. "Why do _you_ have one?"

Tomo shrugged. "I saw one in one of Yomi's magazines and thought it looked funny."

Torako shook her head. "Is there _anyone_ I know who isn't a pervert?"

"What about Yuko-chan?" Asagi said.

"No, she just likes guro."

"What about all those magazines in your closet, Tora-chan?" Tomo asked.

Asagi burst out laughing. "She found those, huh?"

Torako felt her face get hot as she glared at her sister. "Wha . . . you . . . what're you doing going through my closet?!"

She shrugged. "I was bored."

Asagi threw an arm around Torako's shoulders. "It's okay Torako, we all have these urges from time to time."

Torako stared forward and didn't say anything the rest of the way to Asagi's house.

--

"Hey, Torako!" Fuuka was coming down the stairs as they all were taking off their shoes.

"Hey," Torako said before turning back to her bootlaces.

"What's in the bags?" she asked.

Asagi snatched them up before she could see inside. "None of your business, troll," she said and rushed them upstairs.

Fuuka watched her go before turning back to Torako, who just shrugged. Then she noticed Tomo. "Hello," she said with a smile.

"What's up, Troll?" Tomo said with a grin.

"That's not her name," Torako said.

"Well how was I supposed to know?"

Torako turned to Fuuka. "Don't mind my sister, she's an idiot." Then she turned back to Tomo. "This is Fuuka, she's Asagi's little sister."

Tomo stuck out a hand. "I'm Tomo, nice to meet you!"

"Are you always so loud?" Fuuka asked.

She nodded proudly. "Of course I am! I need to compensate for Tora-chan here." She slapped a hand down on Torako's head.

Fuuka looked at Torako as if to say _I think I like you more than her._

"Anyone hungry?" Asagi asked on her way back down the stairs. "I think Fuuka's got some pudding in the fridge."

"I'll take some!" Tomo volunteered, prompting an annoyed _Hey! _from her sister.

When Fuuka glared up at her Asagi laughed and waved a hand. "I'm just kidding. Come on, let's go into the living room."

While Tomo gazed in awe at the size of their television Asagi turned to Torako on the couch. "So what're you doing tomorrow?"

Torako made an annoyed face. "Tomorrow we're all cleaning the house."

"Damn, I wanted to do something."

Torako looked beyond Asagi at Fuuka sitting further down the couch and thought better of what she was about to say. "You could always bug Oikawa," she suggested.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Tora-chan!" Tomo interrupted them. "We have _got_ to get one of these!"

"Why are you telling _me?_"

"Because you need to ask for one for our birthday," she said.

"There is no _way _mom and dad are getting me a big-screen TV like that," Torako said. "Besides, I'm already asking for a new bike. You can have my old one."

"Your old one's all bent," Tomo whined.

"And whose fault is that?" Torako asked.

Tomo just shrugged.

"_Yours!_" Torako answered for her.

Tomo leaned back. "How is that _my_ fault?!"

"Well you did _back the car over it,_" Torako said.

Tomo crossed her arms and looked off to one side. "That was an accident."

"You got up in the middle of the night, stole dad's keys, dragged my bike out behind the car, started the engine, threw it into reverse, and stepped on the gas," Torako said. "Exactly what step of that process did you do _by mistake?_"

"I forgot to buckle up."

Torako just buried her face in her hands.

"Why would you do something like that?" Fuuka asked her.

Tomo shrugged. "Seemed like a good idea at the time." She turned to Torako then. "Anyway, because of that mom and dad are letting _you_ get a driver's license when we turn eighteen and not me, so I don't see what you're bitching about."

Torako glanced at Fuuka, but she seemed unconcerned with Tomo's profanity. "Oh yeah, I'll get to drive in _three years, _that really eases the sting."

"Well I wouldn't have wrecked your bike if you'd locked it up," Tomo said. "So really it's _your_ fault, Torako."

Torako grabbed up a throw pillow and hurled it at her sister's head.

--

That night Torako sat back from her desk and stretched before packing her finished homework into her schoolbag. She was latching the flap when the door banged open and Tomo came strolling in.

"Hey Tora-chan, Yomi won't give me the answers for our math assignment, let me see yours."

"We go to _different schools,_ you tard."

Tomo shrugged and put her hand out expectantly. "It's still better than nothing, cough up."

"No, that's idiotic. Just copy from that genius kid you keep talking about." Torako set her bag on the floor by the desk.

"Hmm, I probably _could_ intimidate her into letting me," Tomo said to herself and headed over to the bed.

"Are you planning to sleep in here again?" Torako asked.

Tomo shook her head. "No, I just felt like coming in here."

Torako picked up her cigarettes and lighter and stepped up onto the bed. "Well, I'm having a smoke."

"I'll join you!"

Torako slid the window open. "Fine, but keep it down, I don't need to get busted because you're stomping around out there."

"I can be quiet," she insisted.

"Not very often though," Torako muttered. Out on the roof she sat down and flicked her lighter. After several minutes she turned to Tomo. "So what's with you lately?"

"What do you mean?"

Torako nodded her head toward the bed inside. "You haven't slept in my bed since we were twelve."

Tomo shrugged. She hugged her legs to her chest and rested her chin on her knees. "I don't know."

Torako knew she wouldn't be getting anything more elaborate than that, so she let the issue drop. Tomo may be the more affectionate twin, but she was still terrible at actually saying how she felt. She tried blowing a smoke ring and straightened her legs. She liked these quiet moments anyway. Sometimes she wondered if anyone besides her and Yomi were even aware that Tomo _had _this thoughtful side. Given how rarely it seemed to show itself, she doubted it.

"So what're you gonna do with that vibrator Asagi gave you?"

Torako choked on a lungful of smoke. Just as quickly as it had arrived, Tomo's quiet side had vanished once more.

--

When Torako got to her desk on Monday she felt as if her brain was only working at half capacity. Despite being tired from working around the house all day it had taken her forever to fall asleep last night, and when she finally had she had dreams about not being able to sleep and then running late for school. By the time her alarm went off Torako wasn't sure if she'd even gotten any sleep or not. She was resting her head on her hand and nodding off when Asagi poked a finger into her forehead.

"Wake up, sleepyhead."

Torako groaned and swatted feebly at her before crossing her arms on the desk and laying her head down.

"Hey, no sleeping." Asagi knocked lightly on her head.

She sat up. "Fine, god!"

"Rough night?" Asagi leaned over her and cocked her head.

"Couldn't sleep."

"Aww, that's too bad," Asagi cooed and patted her shoulder maternally.

Torako scowled up at her. Somehow seeing her friend in such a sunny mood made hers even worse. "Have you ever had trouble getting to sleep, and then had dreams about not being able to sleep?"

Asagi thought for a moment before shaking her head. "Hm, nope. Not really."

Torako groaned. So much for sympathy.

"Hey," Asagi said. "How do you know you're not still asleep and this isn't another dream?"

Torako stared up at the hair hanging over her eyes for a moment before scowling at Asagi again. "You're evil, you know that?"

Asagi laughed innocently. "You're too easy, Torako."

"You _wish_ I was easy," Torako muttered before yawning.

"That's right, I do," Asagi said with a leer.

--

"Hey Torako, show Yuko-chan your shoes."

Torako sighed and got out her phone. Asagi had insisted she take some pictures for evidence. _Evidence for what?_ she couldn't help but wonder.

"Hmm," Oikawa said as she looked at the phone's screen. "She must be really pissed at you, huh."

"Apparently," Torako said, taking the phone back. "And I don't get why."

"You pushed her down in the street, put a dead mouse in her jacket, and then filled her locker with mud," Asagi said in an _Are you seriously that dense?_ tone. Speaking of which, they'd never seen her wear that jacket since that day.

"I've also broken a guy's nose, but he didn't declare _war_ on me," Torako said. She poked at her lunch with her chopsticks. "He did send his friend after me, but they backed off when I punched him in the eye in front of a bunch of girls."

"Ah," Asagi said, pointing with her chopsticks, "but you broke his _nose,_ not his _heart._"

"Don't start with that again," Torako muttered.

"I'm missing something, aren't I?" Oikawa said.

Before Torako could answer Asagi started talking. "Ohzawa sent Torako here a couple love letters," she said. "Then Torako pushed her down and threatened to kick her ass."

Oikawa looked at Torako. "That's pretty heartless, Takino."

"That was completely unrelated. And besides, we don't _know_ they were from her," Torako insisted. "They were anonymous letters."

Asagi shrugged and went back to eating. "You have to admit, the timing's pretty suspicious, you get those two letters and then she reacts so strongly when you take my side."

Torako just shook her head and ate.

"And besides," Asagi added, "we definitely know they were from another girl."

"There seems to be an awful lot of that going on around here," Oikawa mused, then looked pointedly at Asagi.

"Oh _please,_ if I wanted to leave someone a love letter I'd at least sign it."

Torako picked up a meatball and sighed. "Sometimes I almost wish she _would_ take a swing at me, I'm not used to settling scores like this."

Asagi was giggling around her rice.

"What's so funny?"

She swallowed. "I swear Torako, you must be the meekest badass I've ever seen."

"Do you live in the ghetto, or what?" Oikawa asked.

"Their neighborhood's actually pretty nice," Asagi said. "It's not too far from where I live."

Torako nodded. "The school we went to was close to a pretty crappy ghetto neighborhood though, so it would get a lot of kids from there." She took a drink of soda. "Most of them weren't so bad, but there were always a few who had to make trouble."

Oikawa looked at Asagi. "We went to middle school in a nice neighborhood. Maybe that's why nobody's beaten Asagi up yet."

"Hey," Asagi said. "Why would anyone want to beat _me _up?"

Torako and Oikawa just stared at her.

"I was _kidding,_" she said finally.

Oikawa changed the subject. "So when did you want that stuff by?"

Torako's stomach lurched again. She didn't consider herself squeamish, but she still didn't like the idea of handling body parts.

"I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I want to do," Asagi said, "so no rush yet."

"Oikawa, wouldn't you get in trouble if your parents caught you stealing medical waste?"

She nodded. "Yeah, but I can pull it off. I help out at the clinic on weekends and I handle emptying the garbages, so all I need to do is get save some stuff from the surgery room trash."

Torako couldn't quite imagine a nice-looking girl like Yuko Oikawa digging through a bloody trashcan, picking out tails and cat testicles. Of course it had been her idea in the first place, so . . .

She turned to Asagi. "Speaking of getting in trouble, if we get busted for whatever you're planning we'll be expelled. You do know that, right?"

"You don't even know what I'm planning," Asagi said innocently.

"I know it involves body parts," Torako said.

"And dead animals," Oikawa reminded them.

"Don't worry, we won't get caught," Asagi assured her. "And if we do, I give you permission to beat me up."

"Can I help?" Oikawa asked.

Asagi looked at her. "Sure, you look pretty weak, I could probably take you."

"You don't get to fight back," Torako said.

* * *

**-Author Notes-**

Hey kids! Spot the nod to the Ichigo Mashimaro anime (and maybe the manga, I don't feel like digging though all my scans to check) and win a fabulous prize!

And by "fabulous prize" I of course mean "absolutely nothing."


	9. Breakfast at Torako's

Apparently in Asagi's world "as soon as possible" translated to "next week," because that was when she actually crawled out of bed before the sun rose and headed out with her bag of smut supplies. Since Torako and Oikawa had both flatly refused to carry out the plan this time, that left things up to her. She'd briefly wondered if she'd be able to draw Maiko into the fold, but she was pretty sure that she'd never liked her all that much anyway. And besides, the day after Asagi began eating lunch with Torako, Maiko had basically recited all of the "Takino is a no-good delinquent" rumors they'd all heard as though they were established fact. Asagi doubted she'd want to get involved in a war fought on her behalf.

As she made her way to school in the pre-dawn gloom Asagi cursed her newfound sense of conscience. She knew she couldn't force Oikawa into it because as meek as she looked, that girl was too assertive to be badgered into doing something she didn't want to. Torako, however, had shown herself to be just enough of a pushover that while she might refuse and protest at first, all it took was the right amount of prodding and she'd do whatever Asagi wanted. Problem was, she was starting to feel bad about taking advantage of that. If this was growing up, Asagi wanted no part of it.

Though she'd said that she'd been putting off doing this for a week to lull Ohzawa into a false sense of victory, she'd been procrastinating precisely because she didn't want to get up this early. Sure, it was quiet, calm, a pretty shade of blue, and all that stuff that Torako had said it was. Of course Torako would put all that first, seeing it as an artist. Asagi wasn't an artist, so she saw what was more important, and what was more important was that she was tired. That, and she felt like an idiot walking down the street at this hour with a bag full of dildos. She couldn't help but wonder what would happen if a cop thought she looked suspicious and demanded to see what she was carrying. Seeing their reaction would almost be worth dying of embarassment.

When she got to the school Asagi hesitated before going in. Normally she had somebody to back her up, but now she was going into a prank solo, and she was coming up with a pretty short list of ways to bullshit her way out of a punishment if she got busted walking around the school at dawn with a sack of fake penises. No matter how one looked at it, there wasn't really a reasonable explanation for that sort of behavior. Casting furtive glances down the hall, she hurried to the shoe lockers and found Ohzawa's. _Okay, almost done. _Asagi listened for footsteps as she opened the locker and began stuffing dildos in. First she stuck one in each shoe, then piled all the rest in so they would fall out when it was opened. Then, mission accomplished, she stuffed the bag in the trash and got the heck out of there.

Asagi breathed a sigh of relief when she was back out on the street. She checked her phone and swore. Why had she listened to those two bozos? She had over an hour before she usually got up, let alone started off for school. _Well _duh _you idiot, _she thought, _it takes a lot longer to fill a locker with mud than with sex toys. Why'd you give yourself so much wiggle room? _She found herself wishing Torako was here. She would have planned it better. Or was she just assuming that? Well, she'd planned the last one, hadn't she? Asagi put aside those thoughts and headed back on her usual route home. What was she going to do for the next hour?

--

Someone was kicking her foot. "Hey. Hey, wake up."

Asagi opened her eyes to see a groggy-looking Torako standing above her. "Oh, good morning."

"What are you doing in our yard?" Torako asked.

Asagi got to her feet and stretched. "I thought I'd walk to school with you today."

Torako sighed and motioned for her to come inside. "So you got here god knows how early and slept on the lawn?"

"Well, I went to carry out my mission, and I guess I got up a little too early."

When they got to the kitchen Torako's mother Nao looked up from her breakfast. "Good morning Asagi," she said. "Enjoy your nap?"

"A pillow would have been nice," Asagi said.

"Oh, well next time you can just feel free to come in and steal Torako's bed."

"Hey," Torako said from the refigerator.

"Don't worry Tora-chan, I'd let you stay," Asagi said, and she and Nao both laughed as Torako's face turned red.

"TODAY I HAVE DECIDED ON THESE PANTIES!" came a shout from upstairs. Torako hung her head and Asagi laughed.

"Does she do that often?" Asagi asked.

"Every. _Day._" Torako raised her head and looked at her mother. "Can you _please _do something about that?" she pleaded.

Her mother shrugged and sipped her coffee. "I don't know, I think it's funny. And besides, it keeps us up to speed." She turned to look at Torako. "So what panties have _you_ decided on today?"

"Let's check!" Tomo had reached the kitchen. She got dressed pretty fast, it seemed.

"Let's _not,_" Torako said, looking to Asagi as if for support.

"I don't know, I'm kind of curious myself," Asagi said.

"Oh _ho!_" Nao exclaimed. "Seven-kinky! C'mon Tora-chan three to one, let's see 'em!"

"We wanna see!" Tomo pounded on the table.

Torako spluttered. "Wha . . . no! What is _wrong _with you two?!"

Nao looked at Asagi and pointed at her taller daughter. "Asagi-chan, go lift up her skirt."

Torako flipped on the kitchen faucet and pulled up the hose. "Don't even try it" she warned, pointing the spray nozzle at her friend like a pistol.

Asagi laughed nervously. "Ah, I think I'll pass. I think she's been embarassed enough already."

Torako lowered the sprayer and turned off the faucet. "_Thank _you."

Nao sighed. "I suppose you're right. Torako never could keep up with the rest of us."

Torako began spreading butter on her toast when it popped up. "Why, because I'm not _assbat crazy?_"

Nao shrugged. "Pretty much." She turned to Asagi then. "Oh, are you hungry?"

She shook her head. "Oh no, I'm fine. I ate before I left home."

"When was that, last night?"

"Feels like it," Asagi said and yawned. She turned to Torako. "I wouldn't have gotten up so early if you'd agreed to come with me."

Torako gave her a _Not in front of my _mom, _you idiot _look as they both sat down.

"Oh, you mean for that prank you were planning?" Nao asked.

They both looked at her in surprise, then glared at Tomo.

"I told her," Tomo said, completely unapologetic.

Torako got to her feet. "You . . . !"

Nao just sipped her coffee. "I don't know what you two are up to, but if you get caught I'm going to kick both your asses."

"Are you sure you could take Torako, mom?" Tomo asked as she chewed her breakfast.

Nao looked appraisingly at Torako. "I'd use the shovel," she finally said.

--

"_TAKINO!!_"

Torako was finishing putting on her inside shoes when she heard Ohzawa scream her name. Based on the commotion, she guessed Asagi's prank was a success. As she stood up Ohzawa came charging around the corner. "You're _dead!_" she snarled.

Around them students were backing away, not wanting to get get caught up in anything but not wanting to miss seeing a fight either. Torako stood her ground.

Ohzawa was almost to her when she was stopped from behind by Mifune. "Are you insane?!" he demanded. "You can't get in a fight at school you idiot!"

Ohzawa thrashed as she was dragged backwards. "Let me go asshole!"

As Hagiwara pushed through the crowd and helped Mifune try to calm Ohzawa down Torako picked up her bag and got out of there before any faculty showed up. Halfway through the crowd she found Asagi trying to get in the other direction.

"Come on, let's get to class," was all Torako said.

Ohzawa didn't show up for homeroom that day, and halfway through the school principal showed up in their room to speak with Torako again.

When she stepped into the principal's office Ohzawa was already there, along with a box full of the contents of her shoe locker. Torako was pushed into an empty chair. _A little dramatic, don't you think? _she thought as she watched the principal (what was his name again? Oh right, Watanabe) cross over to the other side of his desk.

"Care to explain this?" he asked finally.

Torako shrugged. "Not really," she said. "Why, should I?"

Ohzawa opened her mouth but a glance from Watanabe shut her up. "Ohzawa-san here tells me you put these in her locker."

Torako sighed and looked at her, then at the box. "_Again?_ I've never seen those before."

"You're _lying!_" Ohzawa said.

"Maybe it was the same person who filled your locker with mud," Torako offered.

"That was you too!" Ohzawa insisted.

Torako shook her head in feigned exasperation.

"_Was _that you?" Watanabe asked.

She sighed again. "No, it wasn't. I thought we'd already established that."

Watanabe nodded. "Yes, I remember."

"And you can ask Ayase if I did anything to Ohzawa's locker today, too. She'll tell you I just went straight to my own to switch shoes, just like every day."

"All that means is that you came in early and then left to come back at your normal time," Ohzawa grumbled.

Torako allowed herself a laugh. "Ohzawa, have you ever heard of Occam's Razor?" An idea came to her then. "You should be familiar with razors, after all."

Ohzawa glared daggers at her.

Watanabe apparently picked up on the hinted accusation, because he leaned over the desk. "Something I should be hearing about?"

Torako didn't take her eyes off of Ohzawa. "Watanabe-san, Ohzawa can't prove that I pulled either of those pranks, because I didn't." She turned to the principal and reached into her pocket. "But _I _can prove that she stole my shoes and shredded them with a razor."

Torako didn't know it was possible for Watanabe to look even _more_ serious than he usually did. He looked at a suddenly very pale Ohzawa. "Is this true?"

Torako finished pulling up the picture of her shoes on her phone and handed it across the desk. "Her handwriting is written all over them," she said. "I can call my mom and have her bring them in if you want to see them yourself."

Beside her Ohzawa looked terrified. She was in trouble now, and she knew it.

"I think that would be a good idea," Watanabe said.

--

When Torako finally returned to class (_sans_ Ohzawa) halfway through second period Asagi and Oikawa both looked at her as though demanding an explanation of what happened. She simply waved at them and went to her desk. _I can't just tell you in the middle of class, smart ones._

"What happened? Where's Ohzawa?" Asagi demanded as soon as they got to the changing room for PE.

Torako turned her back on Kusanagi-sensei and pulled her top up over her head. She couldn't really wear her gym clothes under her uniform. "Suspended," was all she said.

Asagi gasped and smiled. "What? Really?"

Torako nodded and straightened her gym shirt. "I told the principal about what she did to my shoes and then had my mom bring them in to prove it."

Oikawa sighed. "When you were gone for so long I was almost afraid you'd gotten in trouble or something."

Torako just shrugged and smiled quietly as she dropped her skirt. "Why would I?" she asked. "I didn't do anything."

Asagi nodded. "Still, when he pulled you out of homeroom like that we couldn't help but worry."

Torako sat down and waited for Asagi and Oikawa to finish changing. "Anyway, Ohzawa won't be coming back for at least a week. They were still working that out when they let me go." She adjusted her gym shorts. "Apparently Watanabe's taking what she did pretty seriously."

"Good," Asagi said as she finished changing. "If it were up to me she'd get jail time."

Oikawa shut her locker. "Well, if she keeps pulling stunts like that . . ."

--

It was decided that they'd eat lunch on the roof that day to celebrate their victory (Asagi had insisted on sharing the credit, citing her insistance that Torako take the pictures). As they all sat down on their usual bench and Torako lit a cigarette Asagi turned to Oikawa.

"So what happened when she opened the locker?" she asked almost immediately.

Oikawa giggled around her sandwich. "Avalanche of dicks," she said when she finished chewing and swallowed. "They all came spilling out everywhere, how many did you _buy?_"

"I didn't really count 'em," Torako said as she tried to smoke and eat at the same time.

Oikawa shot her a sympathetic look before continuing. "Anyway everyone starts laughing, and she just stands there and stares for a few seconds before her face turns red and you can see she's getting _really _pissed. Then she screams '_Takino!_' and runs off."

Torako nodded. "I know _that_ part."

"Did she take a swing at you? I couldn't get over there in time to see anything."

She shook her head. "No, she almost did but her two cronies managed to hold her back. So I got out of there before the heat showed up."

"What would you have done if she had?" Oikawa asked.

Torako shrugged. "I don't know, probably just push her down like last time. I'm not about to get in a fight at school again." She took a drag from her cigarette and blew a long stream of smoke. "My parents would kill me, for one thing."

"Really?" Asagi asked. "I don't know about your dad, but your mom seems pretty laid back."

She shook her head. "Not about getting in fights." When she finished eating she got up and went to the railing at the edge of the roof and looked out over the grounds.

"So what now?" Oikawa asked to no one in particular. "Does this mean we won the war?"

Torako shrugged and turned to lean back against the railing. "I certainly hope so." She turned her eyes up to the leaden sky. It was definitely getting on towards the rainy season now.

Asagi pretended to pout. "And we didn't even get to use Yuko-chan's idea."

"Good," Torako said.

"Well, we could always kick her while she's down," Asagi said, "to really drive the point home not to mess with us." She was quiet for a moment, then suddenly changed the subject. "Hey, let's all go eat somewhere after school."

"Ooh, I have to go help at my parents' clinic," Oikawa said with a wince.

Asagi stuck her tongue out at her and turned to Torako, who shrugged. "Yeah, okay."

"And then afterwards you can let me see your homework," Asagi slipped in.

Torako frowned a little more than usual. "What was that?"

She shrugged and wrapped up her empty lunchbox. "Nothing, I just don't feel like doing my homework tonight."

Torako and Oikawa both sighed. "If you just copy from people your test scores are gonna tank," Oikawa said as she got up and stretched her arms.

"Ah, but if I copy from you and Tora-chan I'll get better scores on the assignments, so it evens out."

"It looks suspicious, is what it does," Torako pushed off from the railing with her elbows and took a few steps toward the bench.

"Oh lighten _up,_ you two," Asagi said exasperatedly. "It's not like I'm gonna make a habit of it."

"You better not," Oikawa warned. "I'd stop letting you copy from me."

Asagi looked at Torako and grinned. "That's okay, I know Torako would let me see hers anyway."

Torako crossed her arms. "Says who?" she asked around her cigarette.

Asagi laughed. "Says me, uke. You're a pushover and you know it."

"You _are _pretty spineless," Oikawa said. "You really need to be more assertive."

Torako looked off to the side and blew smoke.

"Don't worry," Asagi said, "I promise I won't take advantage of your spinelessness."

"Gee, _thanks,_" Torako said sarcastically. "A little late for that, don't you think?"

Asagi just smiled and shrugged.

--

"You gotta be kidding me."

"What's up?"

When Asagi found Torako at her shoe locker at the end of the day she was standing in front of it, staring at the white envelope perched atop her sneakers. As Asagi watched she reached in and took it out, staring at it as though it had just made a crude remark concerning her mother's sexual proclivities.

"Looks like _somebody's_ getting popular!" Asagi said, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Considering I got one of these just before this whole prank debacle started I think I'd rather not be." She folded the envelope in half and stuck it in her pocket before taking out her shoes and sitting down on the bench.

Asagi sat down beside her. "Can I see it?"

Torako looked at her. "Of course not."

"You're no fun."

Torako tied her shoes and stood up. "Besides, _you_ probably put it there anyway." She put the inside shoes away, shut the locker, and picked up her bag. She glanced at Asagi as though expecting a response, but none came, so she just headed for the hallway.

When they were off school grounds Torako lit up. Before she put the pack away she shook it and made an angry sound.

"Almost out?" Asagi asked. "Sure is nice, not having an addiction to eat up all my yen . . ."

Torako's glare said it all: _Shut it._

Asagi shrugged and looked up at the sky. "I suppose I _could_ be a nice friend and get you some, but I'd need some form of compensation . . ."

"A _real _friend wouldn't _need _compensation," Torako grumbled.

Asagi laughed and patted her on the back. "Oh Tora-chan, you're so naive sometimes. If I started doing favors for someone without asking for anything in return, they'd just walk all over me."

Torako wondered if she should even bother pointing out how hypocritical she sounded just then.

"Anyway," Asagi continued, "it wouldn't be much. Just, say, a peek at your homework?"

Torako sighed. She probably would have let her see it anyway, after living with Tomo letting someone copy her homework had begun to come almost as naturally as breathing. Might as well get some free smokes out of it too. "Fine," she said, making sure to sound irritated. She had an image to uphold, after all.

Asagi clapped her hands together. "Hooray! Come on, there's a gas station with a machine down this way." As they took a detour from their usual route Asagi added, "How many packs would it cost me for a peek at that note?"

"Don't push it."


	10. Gifts from Asagi

On her way out the door, Torako stuck her umbrella into her bag; _Forecast says it might rain,_ her mom had said. As if she needed a forecast to tell her it was going to rain, a single glance up at the increasingly hostile sky was enough to convince her of that. As she got out her lighter she breathed in through her nose and smelled moisture on the air, carrying an undercurrent of energy just shy of tangible. What was that, again? She seemed to remember hearing it had something to do with negatively charged ions preceding a thunderstorm. Or was it positively charged? _I'll look it up later, _she thought as she flicked the lighter.

As she smoked she looked up at the clouds and wished again that she could afford a decent camera. There was an empty patch of sky near the horizon, and the clouds on the far side glowed brilliant white with the sun's reflected rays. Torako's style tended more towards urban landscapes, but she had to admit that it would make a very nice picture with the right equipment. She considered taking a shot with her phone's camera, but decided against it. She'd need some serious zoom to adequately capture something that far off.

She was about halfway to Asagi's when she got out her phone.

"Torako!" Asagi sounded cheerful as always.

"Hey. I'm on my way."

"Did you bring your homework?"

Torako suppressed a sigh and glanced down at the bag at her hip. "Yeah, I got it."

"Great! Oh hey, have you got an umbrella? I heard it's supposed to rain."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah."

"Okay, I won't bother bringing one then."

"Er . . ." The image of her and Asagi sharing her umbrella flashed through her mind, followed immediately by passrersby getting the wrong idea.

"What?" Asagi asked. "Is that a problem?"

Torako shook her head, even though there was no way Asagi could see the gesture. "No, it's fine."

"Okay!" She could clearly see her satisfied I just got my way smile in her mind's eye. "I'll see you soon."

"See you."

--

Either Torako needed to pay more attention in English class, or Magnetron Humburger's owners should have, because she was pretty sure that wasn't the proper spelling. As she and Asagi took their booth and set down their trays she glanced around at the yellow M logo emblazoned across every available surface and wondered why this place hadn't been sued into oblivion yet for copyright infringement.

"I can never eat here with Tomo," she said as she unwrapped her teriyaki burger. "She always insists they use cat meat."

Asagi's burger froze halfway to her mouth. "They don't, right?"

Torako scoffed. "Of course not. They'd get shut down. This isn't Korea."

"Ooh, look who's being racist," Asagi teased.

"What?" Torako said mildly. "It's true. When my uncle lived over there his cat got kidnapped and eaten by a family in his neighborhood." She took a bite and shrugged. "It was a pretty poor neighborhood though."

"That's horrible," Asagi said, looking a little queasy.

"Yeah. And of course there's places they eat dog." Torako swallowed. "I've also heard about people eating human fetuses in China, but I don't think that's true."

"You sure do know some weird things," Asagi said as she took another bite.

Torako chewed and swallowed.

"Would you mind if we changed the subject until we're through eating though?" Asagi asked. "Oh, have you read your letter yet?"

Torako shook her head. "Nope."

"Oh, come _on._"

Torako licked sauce off her finger. "Why are you so interested, anyway? Didn't you say you wanted me all to yourself?"

"Well I do," Asagi said, straightening in her seat, "but that doesn't mean I can't feel happy for you that you're getting some attention." She pointed at her. "If you do start dating somebody though, just remember your bony ass belongs to _me._"

Torako sighed as a mother and her son looked at them as they passed by their booth. Should she be worried that she was starting to like it when Asagi talked to her this way?

"Ah, it's starting to rain," Asagi said, changing the subject yet again.

--

"What are you doing this weekend?"

"Probably nothing, why?" Torako looked over at Asagi where she sat at her desk.

Asagi shrugged as she copied answers. "Felt like seeing a movie or something."

Torako stretched her arms and looked out the window at the rain. "Yeah, I'd probably be able to go." She lay down. "I figured you'd probably try to rope me into something anyway."

Asagi glanced over at her. "Tired?"

"A little," Torako said, eyes closed.

"You can take a nap there if you want."

She opened her eyes and shook her head. "I don't know if I feel safe sleeping around you."

Asagi laughed. "Don't worry, I wouldn't get out the strap-on unless you wanted me to."

"That's very reassuring." She put an arm over her eyes. "I hope that thing doesn't turn out to be a Chekhov's gun," she mused.

"Huh?"

"Writing device," Torako explained, "where something is introduced early in a story but its significance isn't revealed until later on when it suddenly becomes crucial to the plot."

"Oh, like foreshadowing?"

Torako shook her head under her arm. "Not quite, more like a rule about not including any unnecessary elements in the story."

"Ah," Asagi said. "So you're saying you _wouldn't_ want me to use it on you?"

Torako chose not to take the bait.

"Or _in _you, I guess I should say."

"Do your parents know you're such a perv?" Torako asked.

She shrugged. "Well, my mom says I'm a demon child."

"Can't argue with that."

Asagi sat back from the desk and began gathering up Torako's notebooks she'd brought. "Okay, done."

Torako just made a sound to indicate that she'd heard. Asagi got up and went to the door before turning back. "You wanna watch some TV?"

Another noise, this one negative-sounding, so Asagi left her there to doze. A little while later she returned to find her asleep, so she got out her phone and took a picture.

--

That night, Torako sat down at her own desk with the new envelope from her locker. _Okay, let's see what you are, _she thought and tore open the flap. Inside was a single sheet of paper folded in half, and written on that sheet of paper was a single sentence. In English.

"What the hell?" she said out loud.

_I do you schoolbus._

"'I do you schoolbus'?" she repeated. What did that even _mean?_ Who would send this sort of . . . wait a minute. She recognized this handwriting. Torako shook her head. "Yeah, real funny, Asagi," she said to her empty room. Then she got out a notebook and began writing.

**--**

Knowing her luck, someone had probably seen Torako leaving the envelope in her friend's locker before homeroom that morning and the entire class would be abuzz with rumors by lunchtime. When Asagi arrived in the classroom she gave no indication of having found the note, but that didn't surprise her. As she'd long suspected, and had since confirmed, Asagi was quite used to envelopes showing up in her shoe locker. Though she downplayed how many she'd received so far, either to spare her friend's feelings or out of her own bizarre form of modesty, Torako wouldn't have been surprised if she'd gotten one from every unattached guy in the class by now. It was probably a good thing for them that she hadn't accepted any of the offers yet, she thought. As attractive as she was, and as sunny as her personality may be to someone who only knew her in passing, Torako could definitely see Asagi making a very pushy and high-maintenance girlfriend. She steadfastly refused to admit to any feelings of jealousy.

As she watched Asagi approach her desk she wondered absently if Oikawa had gotten any notes in _her _locker. Though very quiet and unassuming Torako had to admit that she was very cute, though her apparent fascination with blood and guts was a little worrying.

"Hey!"

Her reverie was interrupted as always by Asagi's enthusiatic greeting. "Hey," Torako said quietly, looking up at her through the ever-present overhang of her hair.

"Where were you just now?" Asagi asked. "You looked a little spacey there."

Torako shook her head. "Just thinking about stuff."

"I usually try not to do that too much," Asagi said. "It makes life easier."

"Now you sound like Tomo."

"Did you just insult me, uke?" Asagi asked without an ounce of hostility.

Torako shrugged. "Probably."

Asagi drummed on her head with a pen. "Tut tut, you better remember your role, Torako."

"You're not beating her now, are you?" They both looked up to see Oikawa walking up. Though she was smiling, she looked like death warmed over.

"You look like hell," Torako said.

Oikawa rubbed her forehead with her hand and groaned, and Asagi and Torako both made surprised noises.

"What happened to you?!" Asagi asked.

"Did you put your hand through a window or something?" Torako asked. She remembered when Tomo had done that, and they'd both learned the hard way that smashing through glass was never as bloodless as it was in the movies.

"Oh, this?" Oikawa looked at her right hand and forearm, wrapped in gauze halfway to the elbow. "A cat."

"You got mauled by a cat?" Torako sounded a little incredulous.

Oikawa nodded. "Yeah, apparently she doesn't like strangers much." She flexed her fingers and winced slightly. "I'm just glad I didn't need stitches."

"Yuko-chan has a much more eventful life than we do," Asagi said to Torako.

"Apparently," Torako said, staring at her bandaged hand. "Does that hurt?"

"_God_ yes," Oikawa said.

"Please don't unwrap it."

"Why _would _I?" Oikawa asked and looked at it.

Torako shrugged. "I don't know, just don't."

"Are you scared of blood, Tora-chan?" Asagi tousled her hair and asked teasingly.

Torako waved her hand away. "Not really, I just don't want to see any right now."

"Blood's not that scary," Oikawa said. "It stinks though. I can't stand the smell of it. Especially when it's mixed with other things."

"What do you _do_ at that clinic?" Asagi asked.

Oikawa scratched at her bandaged hand and leaned back on the empty desk next to Torako's. "Mostly custodial stuff right now, like cleaning cages and cleaning up after surgeries and stuff." She laughed. "I've seen some pretty nasty stuff there." She looked like she was thinking of some disgusting example when the bell rang, signalling it was time to take their seats. As everyone got settled Torako sighed and looked out the window at the trees outside and the fence beyond. Another two months until summer vacation? Sometimes it was life's little injustices that were the most unbearable.

--

"I ran into Watanabe's secretary on the way back from the cafeteria," Asagi said as she handed Torako her sandwich and sat down. As bossy as Asagi often acted, at least she did her own little favors too. "She said Ohzawa won't be back for another three weeks."

Torako sighed. "Do we _have_ to talk about her every day?" She began to unwrap her sandwich. "It's starting to get monotonous."

Asagi shrugged. "No, but I just thought you might like to know." She giggled. "And we don't talk about her _every day._ Anyway, apparently it was only supposed to be a week but her parents requested a longer time so they could make her go to anger management classes."

Oikawa pressed a peeling strip of bandage tape down on her hand. "Guess that rules out a bad home life for the root of her behavior."

"You've never met her parents?" Asagi asked. "They're actually really nice. Ikue's just an unholy bitch."

Torako suppressed a laugh. Then she thought of something and turned to Oikawa. "Hey Oikawa, Asagi and I were going to a movie this weekend."

Oikawa opened her mouth, then closed it when Asagi shot her a disapproving look. "Ah, thanks, but I can't go. Work."

Torako nodded. "Okay." Then she looked at Asagi. "What was that look?"

"What look?"

"I thought I just saw you glare at her for a split second."

Asagi and Oikawa both shook their heads obliviously and concentrated on eating.

"So what's showing, anyway?" Torako asked. Asagi shrugged.

--

Torako had almost forgotten about putting the envelope in Asagi's locker when a piece of paper was stuck in her face as she was getting ready to leave at the end of the day. Sure enough, it was the note she'd left, written in English: _In the minds of the mattering men the slow-down before the speed-up will add to the art of this artifice._

"What is this supposed to be?" Asagi asked.

"Looks like a note," Torako said blandly.

Asagi looked at it. "Well I know, but what's it mean?"

Torako shrugged and stood up. "I don't know, what's yours mean?"

"I don't know, I read it on the internet somewhere."

"Ditto."

They started down the hall towards the doors. "You shouldn't be leaving notes in my locker," Asagi said. "You might give people the wrong idea if they see you."

"Look who's talking," Torako said. "Pretty much everything you do could give people the wrong idea about us."

"Oh yeah, name one thing."

"Just one?"

"Anyway, you like it, so what's the problem?"

"Says who?"

"Have you told me to get lost yet?"

Torako didn't say anything until they got to the doors. "Would you if I did?" she finally asked.

"Would I what?" Asagi asked.

"Would you leave me alone if I told you to," Torako repeated.

Asagi laughed. "Oh, you wouldn't do that, you know you love me." She shrugged. "But to answer your question, probably not."

"I didn't think so," Torako said as they crossed the street and got out a cigarette.

"I'd probably see it as a challenge," Asagi said and clenched her fists dramatically. "I would have to win you over!" She lowered her hands and turned to her. "Why, do you want me to go away?"

Torako shook her head. "No, I was just curious."

--

As usual, Oikawa walked home alone. Though she liked walking with Asagi and Torako, she had to take a pretty big detour to do it, so it wasn't something she did often. Besides, she was never sure if she was in the way with those two or not. _What's going on between them, anyway? _She wasn't sure even they knew, half the time. _It's probably nothing, _she thought finally, _but they're both putting out some pretty weird vibes sometimes. _Oh well, it wasn't her business anyway.

She glanced down at her bandaged arm and thought it was a good thing she was left-handed. Asshole cat. She was usually pretty good with them, too. Oikawa had lived around cats her whole life, so she could usually interpret their body language well enough to know how to get in their good graces. Sometimes, though, there was always that one cat that was just _mean._ She wondered if its owners were more used to dogs. Dog people tended not to know how to treat cats, in her experience.

"Hey, Oikawa!"

She looked back over her shoulder. _Shit._ It was Mifune, running to catch up with her. Though they lived in the same neighborhood, they'd never interacted much outside of school.

When he was alongside her Mifune slowed down. When he'd caught his breath, he asked, "Hey, you're friends with Takino, right?"

"Yeah, why?" He wasn't coming after her too now, was he? She was pretty sure he was all fluttery over Hagiwara, so she didn't see any reason for him wanting revenge for getting Ohzawa suspended.

"I was on the phone with Ohzawa last night," he said. "She said if she ever caught Takino outside of school she was gonna put her in the hospital."

"So she's mad at her, so what?" Ohzawa made threats like that all the time.

"She sounded really serious this time," Mifune said. "I know she's usually all talk, but I thought I should probably warn Takino anyway."

"So why come to me instead of her?" Oikawa asked. "You're not afraid of her too, are you?" Given how everyone in school had to have seen Torako being treated as a sidekick by Asagi for the last month, Oikawa couldn't imagine that a lot of people could still find her all that intimidating. She certainly didn't anymore.

Mifune shrugged. "No, I'd just have to go out of my way," he said. Oikawa wasn't sure she believed him.

She just nodded. "Well, thanks for the warning," she said. "I'll let her know." As Mifune waved and went off his own way Oikawa found herself forming a slightly better opinion of him. Of course, he _had_ just saddled her with the role of go-between, and she _hated_ that. She rolled her eyes and got out her phone. Better to do it now than put it off and forget.

--

Torako looked up at the cloud-dotted sky as she finished her cigarette before going inside. So Ohzawa was talking about coming after her, huh? She looked down at the cigarette between her fingers. _Well, let her._ She'd tussled with too many ghetto kids to be afraid of some pampered snot from the suburbs. She only hoped if they did end up throwing down that it would end with that. She was getting seriously sick of this shit. _No more feuds,_ Torako thought to herself. Next time someone decided they had a problem with her, that would their concern and not hers.

"Tora-chaaaan!"

Torako waved to her sister as she and Yomi approached from up the street. "Hey," she said when they were close enough.

"Yomi's coming over," Tomo announced.

"Okay," Torako said and took a drag. "How's that news?"

Tomo reached up and smacked her across the head, almost knocking the cigarette out of her mouth.

"Hey!"

"Hey!" Yomi echoed.

Torako finished her smoke and flicked the butt into the street. "You're lucky Yomi _is _here," she said.

"You want me to hit her for you?" Yomi asked.

"Nah, that's fine." she pushed open the gate and led the way inside.

--

"Why are we doing this again?" Oikawa asked as she and Asagi headed down the street to where they were pretty sure the Ohzawas lived.

"Because we need to put Ohzawa in her place," Asagi explained. "We have to make sure our victory is absolute."

"But she's already suspended," Oikawa said and glanced down at the shoulder bag she was carrying. She hoped the plastic bags inside didn't start to leak.

Asagi shook her head. "That's only the beginning. She's down, but not out." She pointed at her. "That's where _we _come in."

"I think I'm beginning to agree with Torako," Oikawa said, "this is starting to get out of hand."

Asagi jabbed a finger at her. "Hey, _you_ gave me this idea, so don't go trying to weasel out of it now, missy."

Oikawa sighed as they reached the Ohzawa residence. Why had she even agreed to this? She knew Torako couldn't be here because it was critical that she have an alibi (Oikawa wasn't sure if she even knew this was happening), but she was pretty sure Asagi could easily do this on her own. Torako's spinelessness wasn't starting to rub off on her, was it? God, she hoped not.

They stopped by the gate and Asagi surreptitiously checked for any potential witnesses while she pretended to shake a pebble out of her shoe. When she was satisfied that they were alone she pushed open the gate and hurried into the yard. "Okay, let's do this," she whispered to Oikawa as she followed.

Though it was well into the evening, there were no lights on that they could see, meaning there probably wasn't anyone home. _Perfect._ "Okay, you got the gloves?" Asagi asked as they knelt down under the wall cutting the yard off from the sidewalk.

Oikawa nodded and got out two pairs of thick dishwashing gloves. She winced slightly as she put hers on.

"You okay with that hand?" Asagi asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, it's just sore."

Asagi nodded and looked around the yard. "Okay, how do we do this . . ." she muttered to herself. She held out a hand. "Gimme something."

Oikawa got out one of the plastic bags and untied it. She pulled out a guinea pig that had died from heatstroke and put it in her hand. Asagi looked at it, suddenly queasy.

"This was _your_ idea," Oikawa pointed out.

Asagi nodded and crept forward to stuff the dead rodent up into a gutter spout. She gestured for something else, and Oikawa came out of the shadows to hand her a dead hamster. Asagi giggled as she looked around before hucking it up onto their roof.

Oikawa couldn't help giggling herself. "This is really stupid," she said.

Asagi was grinning. "I know." She put a hand out and Oikawa pulled out a severed and half-rotten cat's tail. "Eugh!" Asagi gagged as the smell hit her.

"A lawnmower ran over its tail and it got gangrene," Oikawa explained. "We had to amputate it."

Asagi held it gingerly and looked around. Finally she dropped it into a flower pot. "What else is there?"

Oikawa carefully brought out the second bag. "The guts."

Asagi held up a finger. "Ah! Perfect." She tiptoed over the little garden running along the edge of the yard and looked for a part that looked like it would get the most sun. Finally she bent down and parted two bushes. "Okay, dump 'em." She looked away and gagged again as Oikawa untied the bag and emptied its contents into the dirt with sickening wet plops.

Asagi was giggling again as she stood up and took off the gloves. "Okay, now lets get out of here."

--

Torako yawned and stretched her legs, poking her toes above the water. _Ahh, quiet._ After Yomi's visit that afternoon had degenerated into yet another argument about her weight, a quiet bath felt even better than usual.

_I swear, those two sound like a married couple,_ she thought to herself. She wondered if she was the only one that wondered about them sometimes.

_Not like I can talk anymore. _She didn't know what she should worry about more, that Asagi was treating her like her own personal property, or that she was starting to enjoy it when she did. It was true that Torako let herself be pushed around too often, but she didn't think it was because she was spineless. She just didn't like conflict. She didn't see how a desire to avoid arguments with her family could have turned into an unconconscious desire to be dominated, though.

_Maybe I'm just reading too much into this,_ she thought as she closed her eyes and let her arm hang over the edge of the tub. _It's not like I enjoy being bossed around by anyone else. _Okay, so she only liked it when Asagi did it. What did _that _say?

"TORA-CHAAAN!!"

Torako was saved from answering the question by the bathroom door banging open and Tomo barging in carrying a hair dryer. She'd barely opened her eyes when Tomo drew back her arm, shouted "SPECIAL DELIVERY!!" and tossed the dryer into the tub right in Torako's lap.

Torako shrieked and scrambled away from the hair dryer, diving out of the tub onto the floor as Tomo watched her and laughed. "_Are you trying to kill me?!_" she shouted when she'd gotten to her feet.

Tomo held up the end of the power cord. "What? It's not plugged in or anything."

Torako snarled and made a grab, but Tomo was already out the door. "Get back here, you coward!" Torako yelled and chased after her through the living room and up the stairs. She reached her bedroom door just as the lock clicked. She was grabbing the knob and getting ready to start pounding when Torako realized that she was still naked from the bath.

"What's going on up there?" Their father's voice, and footsteps coming upstairs.

Torako grabbed the knob on her door and found that it was locked too. "DAAAAD DON'T COME UP!"

* * *

**-Author Notes-**

One of the complaints I received about this story was how the pranks never really went beyond shit going in lockers. To be honest I wasn't really happy about that either, but when I first wrote it I'd gotten kinda sick of the whole prank war so I ended it before things really got as far as I'd originally planned. I also really didn't like how it just jumped from Torako getting home from school to her taking a bath, so I used the opportunity to address both of those problems.


	11. Down With the Sickness

Aside from the police showing up at the Takinos' door to ask Torako a bunch of confusing questions about dead rodents, the next month passed fairly uneventfully. The weather got hotter, school got more boring, and Torako and Asagi's relationship stayed just as confusing. No more envelopes appeared in Torako's locker, no new faces appeared at their table during lunch, and though Ohzawa had returned to school a week ago she hadn't made any shows of hostility. Torako had gotten so used to the mind-numbing routine of school life that she'd barely even realized it was June until she glanced at a calender. Lately every day seemed to blur into the next, making it hard to guage the passing of time.

Torako was wishing she was at home in bed when Asagi sat down on her desk and poked the top of her head with a finger. "Wake up, lazy."

"Mrmf," Torako said into the palm of her hand.

Asagi leaned down to look at her face. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Torako said. "Just feel a little queasy."

"Really, because you look about ready to pass out."

"That's because I'm tired," she groused.

"You want me to take you to the nurse's office?" Asagi asked.

"I'm _fine,_" Torako insisted, though she had to admit that the nagging hint of nausea she'd felt when she crawled out of bed that morning was getting progressively less easy to ignore.

"Hey, Yuko-chan!" Asagi waved Oikawa over when she arrived in the classroom. "Come here."

"Good morning," Oikawa said with a wave. "What's up?"

"Don't you think Torako looks sick?" Asagi asked, leaning back so Oikawa could look at her face.

Torako looked at both of them. "What, am I turning plaid or something?"

"No," Oikawa said, "but you do look pretty pale. Are you feeling okay, Torako?"

"She said she felt queasy," Asagi answered for her. "I think she should be sent home."

Oikawa shrugged and turned to Asagi. "Could be food poisoning?"

"What am I, a medical study aid?" Torako asked.

"Maybe she's got worms," Asagi suggested.

"Hey."

"Morning sickness?" Oikawa said.

Torako just looked flabbergasted.

"No, no," Asagi waved her hand. "Couldn't be, Tora-chan's a virgin."

"How do you know?" Torako asked.

"Well you are, aren't you?"

She shrugged. "Well yeah, but-"

"So you can't be pregnant," Asagi interrupted her. She was quiet a moment, then eyed her appraisingly. "Could be a brain tumor, I heard those cause nausea."

"Hey, come on," Torako said.

Oikawa shook her head. "I'm thinking it's probably just a stomach flu." She turned to Torako. "You're not feeling all weak and dizzy, are you?"

Torako shrugged. She hadn't really thought about it. There were a few times that morning that she'd felt about ready to keel over, but she'd assumed it was just because she'd gotten almost no sleep last night. She held out a hand, and it trembled slightly. "Does that count?"

"How would she get a flu though?" Asagi asked. "It's so hot outside."

"A lot of stomach flus are spread through food and stuff, they're not seasonal."

Asagi nodded and looked down at Torako as the bell rang. As everyone went to their seats she motioned for Oikawa to stay where she was while she waited for their homeroom teacher to arrive.

"Okabe-sensei!" Asagi called and waved.

Okabe tossed his bag at the podium from the doorway. It smacked into the side and fell to the floor. "Ayase-san!" he called back. "And your not in your seat. Clearly a compelling reason."

Asagi put a hand on Torako's head. "Torako's not feeling well, can Yuko-chan and I take her to the nurse's office?"

"Takino-san feelin' punk, eh?" he asked, then waved a hand. "Sure, go ahead."

"I'm telling you I'm fine," Torako said as she stood up. Asagi started to say something in response, but she didn't catch it. Before she could take a step the room began spinning. She leaned forward and grabbed the edge of her desk for support, but her legs turned to jelly all the same. Torako heard Asagi calling her name from very far away as the classroom blurred and went black.

--

Torako woke up in bed, though given the surroundings she rather doubted it was hers. She put a hand to her forehead and groaned. "Ahh, what happened?"

"You passed out." Torako turned her head to see Asagi standing next to the bed. "Okabe carried you here himself, you should have seen it." She giggled. "Half the girls in class are probably jealous of you now."

"Lucky me," Torako muttered sarcastically.

"Anyway," Asagi continued, "the nurse called your mom, she's coming to pick you up." Asagi took a half-step back as Torako sat up. "You had me pretty worried there, you know."

Torako put a hand over her stomach and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. "That makes two of us."

"How do you feel?"

"A lot worse than when I got up this morning."

"Well don't you worry about a thing, Yuko-chan and I will get all your assignments for you while you're gone." Asagi must have seen Torako glancing around, because then she said: "She'd be here too but Okabe would only let one of us stay."

Torako nodded.

"Yo Tora-chan, did you puke yet?"

They both turned to see Nao Takino barging into the nurses office. She'd apparently come from work; she was still wearing her nametag and apron.

"No, I didn't puke."

"Then there's still time to get pictures," her mother said to herself.

". . . What?" Asagi asked.

"Anyway, let's get you home, diseasebag," Nao said. "Think you can make it to the car?"

Torako nodded and got to her feet. "Car?" she asked.

Nao nodded. "One of the other cashiers let me borrow hers to get here."

Torako made an annoyed face as Asagi took her arm to help her, but she didn't shrug her off.

"Your dad and I will split your share of the chores," Nao said as they headed down the hall. "You just worry about feeling better, okay?" She put a hand on Torako's shoulder and smiled maternally.

Torako nodded.

"Any movies you want me to rent tonight?"

She shrugged. "Right now I'm more interested in not passing out or throwing up."

"I thought you said you were fine," Asagi teased.

"That was before I fainted in front of the whole class."

"Oh, that can't be more embarassing than Tomo's blowdryer stunt," Nao said.

"Mom, _please_ change the subject."

"Oh, I have got to hear about this," Asagi said.

"Ask Tomo," Nao told her.

"Or don't," Torako said as they reached the doors.

Asagi waved from the school steps as Torako was led to a car she didn't recognize. "Feel better, Tora-chan! We'll come see you after school, okay?"

Torako waved back as the car started down the street, then leaned back and sighed.

"So were ya fakin' it?" Nao asked.

"Wrong twin," Torako said. "It's like I'm feeling worse and worse every minute."

"Probably a flu," Nao said. "I'll pick up some antibiotics this evening."

"What if it's a virus?" Torako asked.

"Huh?"

"Antibiotics only work on bacteria," Torako said, then paused to fight a wave of nausea. "They don't work on viruses."

Nao divided her attention between watching the road and glaring at her daughter.

"What?"

"Why can't you be dumber like your sister," Nao said finally.

"Tomo's not dumb," Torako said quietly as she turned her attention to the gray sky outside.

--

Tomo's wail filled the house as the front door was thrown open. "Tora-chan! Tora-chan!"

"What," Torako called from her bed, then winced. Somehow even yelling upset her stomach when she was sick.

Footsteps pounded up the stairs and Tomo threw open her bedroom door, looking terrified. "Tora-chaaaan!"

"_What,_" Torako said again, getting annoyed now.

Tomo knelt by the bed with tears in her eyes. "I ran into Asagi outside and she said you were dying!"

She lifted herself up on one elbow. "Wha . . . what?" She looked up at a smiling Asagi as she came into the room, followed by Oikawa. "I'm not _dying,_" she said.

Asagi laughed. "Sorry Tomo-chan, I couldn't resist."

"We brought your stuff," Oikawa said, holding up her schoolbag.

"Ah, thanks," Torako said as she sat up.

"So what's really wrong with you?" Tomo asked.

"Flu."

"Didja puke yet?"

"A couple times," Torako nodded.

"Plus she passed out in front of the whole class," Asagi said. "Our homeroom teacher had to carry her to the nurse's office."

Tomo laughed. "Haha, awesome!"

"You like classical music, Torako?" Oikawa asked, listening to the biwa music coming from the CD player on her nightstand.

"Sometimes," Torako said. "It helps me relax."

"I'm pretty sure I've heard this before."

"Have you seen _Blade Runner?_" Torako asked and took a sip of her juice.

Oikawa nodded.

"It was in there a few times."

"Tora-chan's a dork," Tomo said as she got to her feet and headed over to her room to change.

"She is not," Asagi said in her defense. "She just has particular tastes."

"Uh, thanks," Torako said uncertainly. She didn't think liking _Blade Runner_ was all that strange, though.

"I mean, we went to see _Machete,_ and she hated it."

"I didn't hate it."

"Well you said it was stupid."

"He had a minigun on a motorcycle."

"And that was awesome," Asagi insisted.

"Where'd he keep the ammo? There wasn't even a belt feeding in!"

"That doesn't matter!" Asagi insisted. "_Minigun!_ On a _motorcycle!_"

Torako made a _whatever_ face and set her juice back on the nightstand. "You got my homework assignments?" she asked.

Oikawa came forward with her bag. "Yeah, I put 'em in your bag for you."

Torako watched her set it on her desk. "Thanks," she said.

"So, are you feeling any better?" Asagi asked as she pulled her chair over from the desk and sat down.

Torako shook her head. "Worse, if anything. I can't keep anything down but saltines."

"Yeah, you look pretty awful," Asagi said, peering at her face.

"I didn't know you were into western bands," Oikawa said from where she was inspecting Torako's CD collection.

"I like a few," Torako said and picked up a cracker.

"Yuko-chan, you should show a little concern for your sick friend," Asagi said.

"But I've never been over here before," Oikawa said and looked back at them. "You can tell a lot about someone from their bedroom."

Asagi stabbed a finger at the area next to the bed. "You get over here and pay attention to my uke," she ordered.

Torako hoped that either Asagi would outgrow this sort of behavior, or that she would get used to it.

--

After Oikawa and then Asagi had left, Torako took another nap. When she awoke, she saw a felt tip of a pen hovering above her face. "What are you doing?"

"Drawing on your face," Tomo said matter-of-factly.

"Well don't." Torako swatted the pen away.

"But I'm bored," Tomo said. "And besides, I'm not finished yet."

Torako sat up. "You already _started?_"

"Yeah, check it out!" Tomo grabbed a mirror and held it up for her to see.

Torako saw her reflection and fought the urge to shout. Tomo had evidently been adding the finishing touches on her comically large eyelashes to complement her moustache and beard.

"You like it?"

"_No_ I don't like it, get me a towel!"

Tomo took a step back. "What if I don't want to?"

"Then I'll get one myself." Torako threw aside her covers, put her feet on the floor, and tottered out to the hallway.

"I love it when you get sick," Tomo said as she followed her down the stairs. "You're too weak to hit me when I do stuff to you."

"Hey hey hey, hold up you two." They both stopped on their way through the living room to see their father on the couch. "I'm seeing at least three things wrong with this picture." He pointed at Torako. "Yo Sketchpad-face, back in bed." He pointed at Tomo. "Yo Gekkō, quit drawing on your sister's face and then making her get up to wash it off herself."

Torako turned back to the steps, paused, and then turned back to the bathroom.

"Which end?" Tomo asked.

Torako glared at her as she opened the bathroom door. ". . . Both."

"Hold on, I'll grab you a bucket," Sato said as he got up.

--

Torako awoke the next morning to see rain streaking her window. At least she didn't have to waste a beautiful day in bed. She looked at her alarm clock; everyone would have left for school or work already. She rolled onto her side and put a hand on her temperamental stomach. _Is it really all right to leave me here alone? _Ten minutes later she was bored. She started to get up to go watch TV downstairs, but quickly thought better of it and lay back down. _At least drink something. _She drank the last of her juice and threw the empty plastic bottle at her door.

"I'd kill for a smoke," she muttered to the empty room. _That'd probably make me throw up though, _she thought. _Everything_ seemed to make her throw up when she got the flu. Man, being sick was a real pain in the ass. She rolled onto her back again and listened to the rain pattering on the window. At least with her appetite demolished there wasn't much left in her to throw up._ Yeah, starve yourself, that'll help you get better. _Still, she didn't feel like trying to eat just yet. Might as well see if she could sleep.

--

Her phone was buzzing. What time was it? She didn't bother checking, just reached over and felt on the nightstand. "Mhhello?"

"Torako!" It was Asagi, naturally. "Feeling better?"

"Not really." Torako opened her eyes and looked out the window. It had stopped raining. "Whatime izzit?"

"We're having lunch. Yuko-chan, say hello."

"Mm shewing," Oikawa said.

"Anyway, I just wanted to check up on you. Are they taking good care of you?"

"They left me here alone," Torako said.

"Is that really a good idea? You're _sick._"

"That's what I thought." Torako put an arm behind her head. "Plus Tomo drew on my face last night."

Asagi laughed. "Did it wash off?"

"It only smeared a little."

"I wanna see!"

"No."

"Oh come on, I'll just see it when I come over after school anyway."

Torako squeezed her eyes shut. She should have known better than to expect words of sympathy from Asagi, really.

"Are you thinking about it?"

She didn't say anything.

"I'll get you some cigarettes on the way over," she offered.

"Which I couldn't smoke."

"Incentive to get better."

Torako sighed and pointed the phone's camera at her face. She knew when Asagi had recieved the picture she took and sent because she began laughing uncontrollably. "Hey, come on."

"Yu . . . Yuko-chan! Yuko-chan, look at Torako!" Now she heard Oikawa's giggle, though only barely.

"How'd that happen?" Oikawa asked.

"Tomo-chan drew on her face."

"Yeah, okay, laugh it up," Torako said.

"I think you look good with a beard, Tora-chan."

"You owe me a pack of smokes now."

"I won't forget. I've gotta go now, get some rest okay?"

"Not like I have much choice."

"I'll see you later."

"See you."

Almost as soon as Torako closed her phone it buzzed again. The ID said it was Yomi. She frowned. Yomi almost never called her. "Hello?"

"Hey, I heard you're sick."

"Yeah, I've got a flu."

"Tomo says you passed out in the middle of class." It was plain from her voice that Yomi was skeptical. Torako couldn't blame her.

"It was the start of homeroom," Torako clarified.

Yomi barked a laugh before catching herself. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it."

"Anyway I just wanted to call and say if Tomo pulls anything while you're sick, let me know and I'll smack her for you."

Torako rubbed her eyes. "I just might."

"Hey, lemme talk to her!" Tomo's voice.

"Ah, Tomo wants to say something," Yomi said.

"Tora-chan!" Tomo said loudly, as per usual. "Didja puke yet today?"

Torako sighed. "_No._ Why do you even _care__?_"

"Because it pisses you off. How about diarrhea?"

"Okay, gimme the phone back," Yomi said.

After she closed the phone and plugged it into the wall charger Torako rolled onto her stomach and rummaged through the CDs stacked precariously by the CD player on her nightstand. Finally she chose some shrine music and closed her eyes.

--

_Poke._

"Hnnggr." Torako waved her hand.

_Poke poke._

"Gnaaaah."

_JAB._

"_What!_" She opened her eyes.

"Wake up, sukeban," her mother said.

"Don't call me that." Torako looked at the clock. Two-thirty. "Shouldn't you be at work?"

Nao waved a hand. "Oh, Kaizoku made me come home when I let slip I'd left you here alone." Her voice took on what Torako assumed was a mocking imitation of her manager. "What were you thinking Takino, leaving your sick daughter home alone? Are you crazy, or just stupid?" She shook her head and sighed. "Yeesh, what a tight-ass. Anyway, how ya feelin', still urpy?"

"Of course." Torako said.

"You look thirsty," Nao said. "You want something to drink?"

She nodded and Nao left the room. As she went downstairs Torako felt relieved that she hadn't commented on her facial graffiti.

When Nao returned she wasn't carrying any fluids. "Okay get up" she said, "you need a change of scenery." Torako whined and moaned as she was pulled bodily to her feet and towards the door. "Yeah yeah yeah, whine whine whine," Nao said as her daughter complained all the way downstairs. "You don't wanna be cooped up in your room all day."

As Torako waited for her mom to bring down her pillow and blanket she picked up the TV remote and ran through the channels. As usual, there wasn't much on. When her mother returned she let herself be laid down and covered up. Nao went to the kitchen then and came back with a fresh bottle of juice and held it down for her to take.

"Thanks," Torako said quietly.

Nao bent down and kissed her temple, prompting an annoyed sound. "I'll be in the other room if you need anything, 'kay?"

"Okay." Torako unscrewed the bottle and took a sip before laying her head down and settling on a documentary about comets.

* * *

**-Author Notes-**

The song Torako's listening to is called "Ogi no mato," or "The Folding Fan as a Target," and it's on the album _Traditional Vocal and Instrumental Music (Japan) _(which for some reason lists as _Natsukashi_ once ripped to my computer) by the Ensemble Nipponia. It's only twelve bucks on Amazon, so get yourself a copy if you haven't already got it. It's pretty good. (That track in particular; you don't often expect to hear someone rocking out in classical music, but they are rockin' that biwa like there's no tomorrow.)

_Machete _is based on the joke trailer at the beginning of Robert Rodriguez's _Planet Terror._ I really wish it were a real movie, because it looked hilariously awesome.


	12. Swimsuits and Noodles

"Okay my little knowledge sponges, we've only gotta get through this one day before summer vacation." Okabe-sensei leaned on the podium and clenched a fist. "Stay _strong,_ my minions! I know it's difficult, but we've just gotta power through this one last day, and then we can slack off and not study for a whole month!"

"Sensei!" called a girl's voice from the back. "I slack off and never study anyway!"

"Shut up, Izumi." Okabe straightened. "Of course Watanabe would feed certain parts of my anatomy to a hog if I actually _told_ you to slack off your homework until the last minute, so here goes." He cleared his throat and spoke quickly in a bored tone. "Everyone do your homework right away homework is fun it is a good time you lust in your heart for homework there is a fire in your soul and homework is the only extinguisher." An amused murmur ran through the class.

"Hey Okabe, what're you doing for vacation?" Asagi asked.

He shrugged. "Hell if I know. Probably sit and stare at the wall until my girlfriend yells at me." He looked out over the class. "Anybody got any _real _plans for vacation?"

"I'm going to Hawaii!" someone said.

"I hate you. Anyone else?"

"I'm going to play video games for a month straight!"

"Shut up, Izumi."

--

"I think we need to do something," Asagi said as they were eating lunch.

"Nothing is something," Torako said as she glared over at the teacher looking out at the city buildings. With so many students eating on the roof lately, faculty had started showing up to maintain order. Teachers meant no smoking.

"No, nothing is _nothing,_" Asagi said. "And wasting your vacation time doing nothing is no fun at all."

"I don't know, could suit Torako just fine," Oikawa said.

"Well not me, and whatever I'm doing she's doing too," Asagi said.

"Could you at least _pretend_ to care about what I have to say about this?" Torako asked between bites of her sandwich. Asagi had been acting particularly pushy and possessive lately, and it was starting to get on her nerves.

Asagi just shrugged.

"Why do you even put up with her?" Oikawa asked.

"Good question," Torako mumbled.

Asagi put an arm over her shoulders. "Oh, you know I love you," she said sweetly.

"Okay, prove it," Torako said tauntingly.

"_Not here,_" Asagi breathed into her ear, and Torako's face went red. Asagi immediately pulled away and began laughing. "Kiddiiiiiing," she sing-songed.

A nearby group of boys began laughing. "Hey Takino, what'd she do this time?" somebody called as Torako tried to focus on her sandwich.

"She put her tongue in your ear?" someone else asked, prompting more laughter.

"Wouldn't _you_ like to know," Asagi said with a leer.

--

There was a feeling of celebration in the air as school let out for summer vacation. Torako made a point not to hurry as she got ready to leave, in an admittedly somewhat childish attempt to appear more mature than her peers. As she placed her inside shoes in her locker she glanced over at Asagi watching her impatiently.

"Come _on,_" she whined.

Torako closed the locker and picked up her bag. "Okay, I'm ready."

"You were making me wait on purpose," Asagi accused her.

Torako shrugged and smiled quietly. "Maybe a little."

"That's cold, Tora-chan," she said.

Torako just shrugged.

"So, your place or mine?" Asagi asked.

"Excuse me?"

She leaned in close. "You wanted me to prove that I loved you, didn't you?" she asked lasciviously.

Torako gaped at her and leaned away. "I . . . we . . . that was a joke!"

Asagi laughed at her. "Oh Tora-chan, you make it too easy." She waved a hand. "Anyway, we need to decide what you and I going to do for our vacation."

"How come Oikawa's exempt?"

"Oh, she's gonna be working, she says."

"For an entire month?"

Asagi sighed and closed her eyes. "Well _no,_ but she's not going to have nearly as much free time as us. Anyway, yours or mine?"

Torako looked up at the sky and frowned. "Yours," she said finally. "You don't wanna be around my sister on the first day of vacation."

--

Jubei Okabe moved along the display case and sighed. _How hard is it to get a decent pocket knife? _The blades on some of these looked okay, but he hated lockbacks, and didn't trust stainless steel to hold an edge for long. Not the way he treated his knives, anyway. Not to mention the mirror-polished blades, which just made them look like cheap toys.

_Well screw _this _place,_ he thought as he turned and headed out of the store. There were a few other places in this mall he could check. _Somebody's gotta have _something _I can use. _He checked his watch. No rush, he had a couple hours before he had to meet Kumiko.

"Okabe-sensei!"

He turned and swore to himself. It was Ayase and her pet dyke. (Well he didn't _know_ if Takino was gay or not, but he had his suspicions. And besides, he thought that sounded funny.) He waved back. "Ayase-san, Takino-san. What're you two fine young ladies up to?" _And why aren't you off doing it instead of bugging me?_

"We're going to the beach, so we came here to shop here for bathing suits," Ayase said when they'd reached him. Takino just stood by looking like she wanted to get moving. _You and me both, kid._

"The beach?" Okabe asked, picturing them both in bikinis. There was no doubt that Ayase could pull it off with flying colors, but Takino had the figure of a wood plank. "In this weather?" It had been cloudy all day, and they were forecasting rain before evening.

Ayase laughed. "Well we wouldn't be going _today. _We just want to be prepared. So what're you up to?"

"Knife shopping," Okabe sensei without missing a beat. "Then later I'm meeting up with my girlfriend."

"Uh... right," Ayase said. "Well, see you around!"

"Right," he said as she and Takino took off. _Hopefully not too often,_ he thought. It wasn't that he hated his students, he just didn't see how hanging out with them outside of class approached anything even resembling normal teacher behavior. Besides, he didn't need anyone accusing him of being in it for the high school girls. There were few things in the world he found more grating than teenage girls.

--

"He was joking, right?" Asagi asked when Okabe was out of earshot.

Torako looked at her. "About?"

"About getting a knife before he met his girlfriend."

"You can use knives for things besides murder," Torako pointed out. "I've never killed anyone with mine."

"You have a knife?" Asagi sounded a little surprised.

Torako reached into her bag and took out a black phosphate-coated folding knife. "Yeah," she said like it was no big deal. "Tomo's got one too, our dad got 'em for us for self defense when there were those kidnappings a couple years back. I just use it for stuff like cutting strings or tape." She looked forward as she thought. "I'm pretty sure Tomo's lost hers by now."

"That's a little scary," Asagi said.

"Oh calm down." Torako put the knife away as they reached their destination. "A knife's only as dangerous as the person holding it."

"Guess I've got nothing to worry about from you, then."

"Ha ha ha."

They headed for the swimwear. "Get a red one," Asagi said as they made a bee-line for the two-pieces. "I think you'd look good in red."

"You picture me in a swimsuit often?" Torako asked as she looked through the rows.

"Only every day," Asagi said with a sideways smile. "What about this one?" She held up a yellow bikini with a floral pattern.

Torako shrugged. "It suits you." She picked out a plain navy blue one.

"You think so?" Asagi asked, then frowned as she saw Torako's choice. "It's a little plain," she said.

"Have you ever seen me wear patterns?" Torako asked.

"Well I suppose it might look good on you." Asagi looked around. "Where's a changing room?" Torako pointed behind her at the clearly posted sign hanging from the ceiling.

--

Sure enough, Torako's blue two-piece had looked good on her. Her own choice had looked pretty good too, if she said so herself. Asagi looked across the food court table at her friend as she ate. She felt a sudden pang of annoyance. _Three months and I still can't figure out the way I feel about you._

Torako noticed her looking at her. "What?" She sucked at her teeth, feeling with her tongue if there was anything stuck there.

Asagi shrugged and picked up some noodles. "Nothing, just thinking."

"About what?"

Asagi chewed, then swallowed. She hesitated a moment, wondering if this was really a good idea. "Has there ever been someone you couldn't quite figure out how you felt about them?"

"How do you mean?" Torako asked as she felt her pulse quicken slightly.

Asagi shrugged. "Well, like one day you think you might be in love with them, and then the next day you feel like you're just good friends, and then the next day you're back to being in love again."

There was something about Asagi's tone that said she was being serious for once. "I don't suppose you're going to tell me who you're talking about," Torako said, already agonizing inside. Though everything about Asagi's behavior told her she would be the most logical object of her affections, Torako's rather dismal romantic life so far (or, more appropriately, her complete lack of one) yelled louder. She looked down at her food. "I've felt that way a few times, yeah."

"What did you do?"

Torako shrugged. "I didn't do anything. Either I couldn't make up my mind in time or I was too scared of rejection to make a move and they hooked up with someone else."

"That's kinda sad," Asagi said.

Torako just nodded and picked up her drink.

They ate quietly as Asagi hesitated again, then: "Have you ever . . . felt that way about another girl?"

Torako choked on her soda. "Uh . . . one time, yeah," she finally said. "Why do you ask?"

"Why do you think?" _Either you're very oblivious or very dense,_ Asagi thought.

Torako shrugged. "Well . . . if you like them, I don't think it matters whether they're a boy or a girl." _Could it be Oikawa?_ Asagi had known her since middle school, after all. They had a lot more history and emotional investment in each other than she did. Still, that didn't feel quite right, but she couldn't think of anyone else. She couldn't force her mind to accept that _she_ could be a possibility.

Asagi nodded and picked up another bunch of noodles but didn't take a bite. "If they were a guy I'd just ask them out, but I don't know how they'd react to being approached by another girl."

Torako nodded. She wasn't used to seeing Asagi uncertain about _anything._ "That _would_ make it a bit more complicated," she said. _Are you talking about me?_ she thought. _You can't be, I'm never that lucky. But if you were,_ _I wouldn't say no . . . would I? _It killed her that she was unsure.

"Do you think I should?" Asagi asked. "Make a move I mean."

"Well . . . " Torako began, feeling uncertain. "Do you think she likes you back?"

Asagi shrugged. "Sometimes I think so, but other times I'm not so sure."

"She's probably just as confused as you are." She chewed a mouthful of noodles and swallowed. "I guess all you can really do is tell her how you feel and hope she feels the same way."

Asagi nodded. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

Torako wailed inside as she dug her chopsticks into the noodles. _It's not me,_ she thought, _it's never me, and I just killed my chances._

--

"Did you bring your umbrella?" Asagi asked as they headed back to her house. The sky was looking pretty ominous.

Torako shook her head. "No, I forgot."

"That's okay, I brought mine." Asagi patted the side of her bag as they walked. "So what's your sister doing over vacation?"

"She said something about visiting people's homes. Probably an excuse to copy homework."

"Hm, maybe we should visit Yuko-chan sometime then."

"What's this 'we' business?" Torako asked. "I'm doing my own homework."

"Can I see it once you're done?" Asagi asked.

Torako sighed and lit a cigarette. She'd hoped not being able to smoke for a week when she'd gotten sick last month would have helped her cut back, but if anything it only made her cravings _worse._ "Possibly," she finally said.

Asagi clapped her hands. "Hooraay!" She changed the subject then. "So what do you wanna do tonight?"

Torako shrugged. "I don't know, stay up way too late I guess."

"We need to hit some parties this vacation," Asagi said. "You need to get socialized."

"And you drunk, I assume."

"Oh, _you_ don't drink ever?" Asagi asked.

Torako shrugged. "I've had beer a few times, but not enough to get trashed."

"I need to get you wasted, I bet you'd be a hoot."

Torako wasn't sure she agreed, but kept it to herself.

"And who knows," Asagi continued, "you might even get laid."

"When the time comes for that I want it to mean something," Torako said quickly.

Asagi punched her shoulder lightly. "I should have known you were the romantic type. That's okay, I feel the same way. For my first time, anyway."

"You mean that hasn't come and gone?" Torako asked, more as a joke than anything else.

Asagi gaped at her in feigned disgust. "Torako Takino, I am shocked! _Shocked,_ that you would think so low of me that I would already have given it up by my first year in high school! What kind of a girl do you think I am?!"

Torako just shrugged. "Dunno, what kind of girl _are_ you?"

Asagi crossed her arms in a huff. "Not _that_ kind. That's more Yuko-chan's department anyway."

"Yuko-cha-OIKAWA?" For the first time she could remember Torako did a double-take. "_She's_ given it up?"

Asagi grinned at her. "Gotcha." She shook her head. "No, compared to us that girl's as pure as the driven snow. Her sister, though . . ."

"I was gonna say," Torako said. "She'd be the _last_ person I'd suspect."

Asagi was about to say something when she saw movement from the corner of her eye. She was just starting to turn her head towards it when she heard a sickening _SMACK_ and Torako suddenly lurched towards her with a surprised grunt. "TORAKO!" she screamed as she grabbed onto her friend as her legs gave out. _What was that?!_ She stopped wondering when she saw the crimson start to flow from Torako's torn scalp and a cold fear clenched her innards.

Everything flashed white as the rock collided with the side of Torako's head. She heard Asagi scream as the pavement was pulled out from under her and her vision filled with streaking points of light. She tried to catch her balance, but the pain in her head was overwhelming and the world was spinning too crazily. She felt arms catching her as she fell, felt something hot running into her eye and realized it was blood, and then everything went dark.


	13. Settling Accounts

When Torako's senses returned she was lying on her side. She heard voices, but they sounded muffled and far away. She blinked something warm and wet out of her eyes as they tried to work; why did everything look red? She was looking at a pair of feet and wondered whose they were. Come to think of it, she wasn't even really sure what was going on. All she knew was that her head hurt and that she was having trouble thinking straight.

Gradually she began to make out the voices. "Come on Ikue, she might be really hurt." Who was that? A girl's voice; she recognized it, but she couldn't organize her thoughts to assign it to a name or a face.

"She's fine, I didn't throw it that hard." Another girl's voice, and one that was familiar enough to identify. Ikue Ohzawa.

"Leave her alone!" That one was Asagi, and she sounded frightened. She tried to turn her eyes to that voice, but she was having trouble focusing. "Torako! Torako, get up!"

"She's already bleeding, let's get out of here." A boy's voice. She recognized this one too.

"Shut up, I'm not finished yet." A foot prodded her. "Wake up, Takino."

Torako forced her head to turn, and she was looking up into Ohzawa's smirking face. She wasn't an unattractive girl, but she looked very ugly right now.

"Not so tough now, are ya?"

As her vision returned to normal she looked around. Asagi was lying on her stomach with her arms held behind her; Mifune was sitting on top of her, holding her down. Hagiwara was standing off to the side, looking nervous. Neither of them looked like they wanted to be there. She caught Asagi's gaze and she knew she was terrified.

Then Torako felt herself being lifted onto her knees by the collar of her shirt. "You know, when you first got me suspended," Ohzawa was saying, "I said if I ever caught up with you I'd put you in the hospital. To be honest though I didn't really mean it."

She knew what was coming, but she couldn't quite make the connection that she should do something about it.

"But then, _somebody_ stuffed a dead guinea pig in our rain spout and dumped animal guts in our garden." She grabbed Torako's hair with one hand and drew back the other in a fist. "Who do you suppose that was?"

New pain as the fist connected, knocking her back to the ground. Asagi screamed for Ohzawa to stop as she was picked back up by her hair. "You may have fooled the cops, but not me," Ohzawa said, and punched her again.

"It wasn't her!" Asagi shouted. "She didn't do anything, leave her alone!"

"Shut the fuck up, Ayase," Ohzawa said over her shoulder.

Asagi hesitated. "It was me," she finally said.

Ohzawa let Torako flop over onto her side and turned to face her. "What was that?"

"I put the dead animals in your yard," Asagi said. "She had nothing to do with it." She watched in fear as Ohzawa turned and advanced toward her with clenched fists.

"Is that so?" she asked.

Torako picked herself up on her hands and knees as her mind began to function again. She turned her head to see Ohzawa heading for where Mifune was pinning Asagi to the ground, and knew she had to protect her. "Hey Ohzawa," she heard herself say as she took a stab in the dark. "I got your letters."

She stopped and turned back to look at her. "Huh?"

Torako smirked when she saw her expression. _Bull's-eye._ "I wish you'd had the guts to sign them, so I'd have known to kick your ass right then."

_Yep, that did it,_ she thought as Ohzawa ran at her with a sound of inarticulate pain at old wounds reopened and anger at being rejected and slammed her foot into Torako's stomach with enough force to drive the air from her lungs. _That . . . really hurt a lot,_ she thought as she fell onto her side and wheezed for air.

"I'm gonna kill you, you bitch!" Ohzawa's foot lifted back, then slammed into Torako's midsection again. She brought her foot back again and kicked her a third time, then a fourth.

Ohzawa's foot raised back again, and Torako made her move, reaching out and grabbing her other ankle. Before Ohzawa could react she pulled with all her strength, yanking her foot out from under her and bringing her crashing down onto the pavement. As she lay there cursing Torako forced herself to get to her feet and finally managed to fill her lungs.

She didn't wait for her to get back up; Ohzawa was still on one knee when Torako's fist drove into the side of her face. She grabbed her shirt to keep her from falling, then pounded her face again. Ohzawa was grabbing at her arm now, getting to her feet and trying to back away. She lashed an arm out, catching Torako across the face, but it was too poorly aimed to do much more than annoy her.

Torako was drawing her fist back to hit her again when she felt someone jump onto her back and two skinny arms wrapped around her throat. _Shit,_ she'd almost forgotten about Hagiwara. Letting go of Ohzawa, Torako stumbled back and grabbed at Hagiwara's arms as they began to cut off her airway. As she fought the wiry runt she saw Ohzawa coming in to attack her undefended front, so she leaned forward and spun her body around.

Persistant as she was Hagiwara still weighed even less than Torako, and she was carried along for the ride. As she spun centripetal force swung her legs out, catching Ohzawa right across the face as she tried and failed to stop her charge in time. As she staggered to a stop Torako positioned her back to the grass and held tight to Hagiwara's arms so she couldn't let go. Then she leaned forward, pushing her hips back and using them as a fulcrum to lift her unwanted passenger off the ground. As Hagiwara kicked her legs Torako bent hers and then pushed off, throwing herself backwards through the air.

Torako landed hard with Hagiwara under her. As they came down she heard a wheezing gasp as the air was crushed out of Hagiwara's lungs and she felt something crunch against the back of her head as it snapped back. Torako rolled off of her to see tears running down Hagiwara's face as she tried to breathe and to stop the flow of blood from her broken nose. Then she saw Mifune, still sitting on top of Asagi. They were both wearing the same look of surprise.

She was getting up to attack Mifune when she was tackled back to the ground by an enraged Ohzawa. As she tried to roll over Ohzawa began pounding her fist into Torako over and over again, not bothering to aim so much as do as much damage as possible. Desperately Torako thrust a bony elbow up into her stomach, and when she doubled over she twisted around and punched her in the eye. Ohzawa yowled and fell over, and Torako got on top of her and drew back her fist. As she started to punch her Ohzawa grabbed her face, trying to gouge her eyes, and her thumb went into her mouth. As she changed tactics to trying to tear her cheek Torako felt a knuckle slip between her molars and bit down hard. Ohzawa yowled and she tasted blood before the hand was yanked away. Torako's arm hesitated, then paused. Pinned beneath her Ohzawa was sobbing, holding her bleeding thumb as the blood from her nose and split lip mixed with her tears and the water begining to spatter on her face. Torako was dimly aware that it had begun to rain.

Torako got to her feet and took a stumbling step back away from Ohzawa. She looked down at her, then back at Hagiwara, laying on her side in the grass and looking up at her with an expression of pure terror. _I've gotta get out of here,_ she thought as she turned to leave, and locked eyes with Mifune. He was staring at her like a deer in the headlights, frozen by the shock of what he'd just seen. As they made eye contact he must have realized just what it was he was doing, because he suddenly looked down at Asagi pinned beneath him with a horrified expression and hurriedly got to his feet.

Torako forgot about getting out of there as she started towards him. "You GET AWAY FROM HER!" she roared. He was just stepping away from Asagi when Torako charged, catching him in a running tackle that sent them both flying through the air and into the grass. As Mifune tried to scuttle back away from her Torako got on top of him and began swinging punches into his face. She wasn't defending herself now; Mifune had posed no threat to her when this had started, and especially not now. Now she was acting on pure rage; he'd been the one who'd attacked her friend, and he was going to pay.

As her arm came back for another swing into his bloody face someone grabbed her wrist and she felt herself yanked to her feet. Then Asagi was running, dragging her away and leaving their assailants bleeding in the rain. As she ran Torako's head cleared and the full impact of what she'd just done sank in. _I just beat the shit out of three people. _She heard laughter then, and realized it was her. Soon Asagi was laughing along with her, two girls, one pulling and the other bleeding, laughing like maniacs as they ran full tilt through the downpour.

--

They didn't know how far they'd gone by the time they came to a bench beneath an overhang and stopped. They didn't even know where they were; Asagi had just started running, intent only on getting them both out of there. As they laughed and caught their breath Asagi acted on impulse, throwing her arms around Torako. Then the laughter suddenly ceased and Torako's eyes went wide as Asagi leaned in and pressed her lips to hers.


	14. Confessions in the Rain

Time stopped. Torako didn't know how long they stayed that way, though she knew in some abstract part of her brain that it couldn't have been more than a few moments. She wasn't even sure how to react. The world around them had ceased to exist; there was only the pounding of her heart and the heat of Asagi's body held against hers, the warm press of soft lips. Asagi's hands on her shoulders, her own bloody hands held awkwardly in the air.

It was an eternity before Asagi disengaged. Though she desperately wanted to say something, anything, Torako could only look at her friend in shock. Was this real? Was it actually happening? She'd wanted this for so long, denied wanting this for so long, but she'd never actually expected it to happen. Now the moment of truth that had plagued her thoughts for so long was here, and she was drawing a total blank.

Almost as soon as they were apart Asagi apparently realized just what she'd done, because her face took on a mixture of embarassment and horror. "Oh my god I'm sorry," she spluttered, "I just . . . it . . . I don't know . . ."

Torako shook her head. "No, it's okay," she forced out. Lame, but better than dumbfounded silence.

Asagi stepped back and shook her own head. "No, I'm really sorry, I was just worked up from the attack and the whole situation and I don't know what came over me and I know I shouldn't have done that and-"

"I liked it," Torako interrupted her quietly.

Asagi stopped midsentence, then: ". . . You did?"

Torako looked at the ground and nodded.

There was no sound but the pattering hiss of the rain for several long moments, then Asagi laughed uneasily. "I liked it too," she said. They were quiet again then. "So what does this mean?" she finally asked. "About us?"

Torako sat down on the bench and looked at her hands. "I don't know," she said.

Asagi sat down beside her. "We'll need to work that out."

Torako wanted a cigarette very badly then, and realized that her bag was still hanging at her side after all this time. She immediately reached in and felt for the pack. With a quiet groan she found them and took them out. Crushed in the fight, then soaked in the rain. Ruined.

Asagi saw and immediately stood back up. "I think there's a machine nearby, I'll go get you some, okay?" Before Torako could say anything she'd taken off. "Wait there!" Asagi called back as she ran into the rain, apparently forgetting about the umbrella in her bag.

As Torako waited she looked out at the shifting silvery gray world out beyond the overhang, then down at her bloody hands. Some of it was from those punks, some from her own split knuckles. As the adrenaline wore off and the haze lifted from her mind they were already beginning to hurt, and she knew that soon she'd be in quite a bit of pain. She could already feel the dull ache growing and becoming a sting. She put a hand to her head and it came away covered in blood. Without even thinking she wiped it on her jeans. _I must look like hell, _she thought. _God, my parents are gonna be so pissed. _She fought the urge to cry. What was it about her that seemed to attract trouble?

"I'm back!" Asagi said breathlessly, coming in from the rain and holding out a fresh pack of cigarettes. She sat down and unwrapped the cellophane.

"Thanks," Torako said as she greedily tore open the pack and pulled out a cigarette. She leaned back and closed her eyes as the smoke filled her lungs. "My parents are gonna kill me," she said finally.

"You can spend the night at my place," Asagi volunteered. "We need to get you cleaned up anyway."

She laughed and then winced. Yep, definitely starting to hurt now. A lot. "I must look pretty horrible, huh?"

Asagi nodded. "Does it hurt?"

Torako grimaced and took another drag. "Like hell," she said.

"Do you think you can make it home?"

Torako asked. "What choice do we have?"

"Holy shitballs, what the _hell_ happened to _you?_"

They both turned to the new voice. A green Toyota five-door had stopped in the street, and Okabe was staring at them through the open driver side window. Beyond him a pretty young woman was leaning over to see what was going on.

--

After they'd thanked Okabe and his girlfriend for the ride and gone inside, Asagi left Torako in the doorway to go run a bath. She was getting painfully to her feet when she heard a surprised yell.

"Torako, what the hell _happened?!_"

She looked at Asagi's mother, then at her soaked clothes and her bloody hands. "I tripped and fell," she said finally. Her words came out sounding funny; she touched her face, and it felt hot and swollen.

". . . Fell into what, a rock crusher?"

"What's going on?" They both turned to see Fuuka coming down the stairs. She froze in her tracks when she saw Torako.

"She fell down, apparently," her mother explained.

"Down some stairs," Asagi added as she returned from the bathroom.

"I'm very clumsy," Torako said.

"Okay, I got the bath ready," Asagi said. "Let's get you cleaned up, okay?"

They both looked at her mother. She obviously wasn't buying their story, not that they really expected her to. "Do I even want to know?" she finally asked.

--

"_Ow!_" Torako winced and pulled away from the washcloth in Asagi's hand.

"Hold still!"

"Then stop pressing so hard, it hurts!"

"Well I'm sorry," Asagi said, "but we gotta clean this cut."

"Just spray it out," Torako said.

Asagi sighed and turned on the shower. "_Fine,_ sissy, but don't come whining to me if it gets infected," she said as she held the nozzle over Torako's head.

"It's not gonna get infected," Torako said irritably. She didn't see why she couldn't do this herself.

Asagi held Torako's hair back and looked at the cut on her forehead, now swollen and angry-looking. "Youch, that looks painful. You're probably lucky you don't have a concussion."

Torako flexed her bruised arm before looking down at the towel wrapped around her body.

Asagi sighed. "Why'd you have to go and do that, anyway?"

"Do what?" Torako turned her eyes up at her.

"Get her to attack you," Asagi said. "I had her distracted."

"No, you had her ready to kick your ass," Torako corrected her. "What were you _thinking?_"

"I was trying to _protect _you, stupid!" Asagi smacked the top of her head lightly. "And besides, it was _my _stupid prank that caused all this in the first place."

Torako looked at the shower control knob. "You should've just let her come after me," she said. "You wouldn't have stood a chance anyway."

"Oh, you wanna bet?" Asagi brushed her wet hair behind her back. "I'll have you know I'm tougher than I look."

"Okay, how many fights have you been in?" Torako asked her. "Smacking Fuuka around doesn't count." When Asagi didn't answer she nodded. "Exactly."

"I just didn't want you to get hurt," Asagi said quietly.

"Well I wasn't about to just lay there and let you get beat."

"Even if I had it coming?"

"That's never stopped me before."

Asagi sighed and shut off the water.

--

Torako lay back on the futon and flexed her bandaged hand experimentally. It hurt like hell and it was hard to move her fingers with two of them taped together, but she could still use it. She put a hand to her head and felt the gauze pad taped over the cut on her forehead. She was lucky she didn't need stitches for that one. She wondered if it might leave a scar, but it was pretty close to the hairline anyway. Nobody would see it unless she decided to drastically change her hairstyle.

"I have to admit that _was_ pretty amazing, today," Asagi said from where she lay in her bed. "I mean I'd heard about how you were always beating people up in middle school, but seeing it is something else."

Torako shook her head. "Most of those stories are exaggerated. Besides, I've never had to fight three people at once before."

"I was really scared, though." Asagi's voice turned serious, and her face appeared over the edge of the bed. "When she started hitting you . . ."

Torako shrugged and tried to look unconcerned. "Well, it wouldn't be the first time anyone's hit me."

Asagi lay back down. After a long and slightly uncomfortable silence, Asagi finally brought up what they'd both been wanting to discuss but had been too nervous to mention. "Do you . . . remember what we talked about earlier? At the food court?"

Torako took a moment to answer. "About liking someone?"

Asagi nodded at the ceiling. "Yeah." It took her a while to continue. "I . . . was talking about you," she finally said.

"I kind of gathered that," Torako said.

"You knew?"

Torako shook her head. "Not at first, but when you kissed me . . ."

Asagi laughed. "Right." A deep breath. "Do you feel the same way?"

Torako nodded, though she couldn't see it. "I think so," she said quietly.

The bed creaked, and Asagi got down next to her. "So what do we do now?"

Torako sat up. "I don't know," she said. She didn't have a lot of experience at this sort of thing. "Just go with it and hope it works, I guess."

Asagi nodded. They were quiet, listening to the rain pattering on the window. "I suppose we don't want to take things too fast and risk ruining it, huh?"

Torako hugged her knees to her chest and shook her head.

"If I kissed you again," Asagi asked, "would it be moving too fast?"

Torako was quiet for a long minute. "I don't think so," she finally said.

Asagi moved in and took her head in her hands. She kissed her gently at first, then pressed in harder as her passions flamed. She could feel Torako's pulse racing under her skin and felt her hands finally come to rest on her shoulders. Asagi pressed closer, and Torako let herself be pushed back onto the futon. As she closed her eyes and felt Asagi's weight on top of her, Torako found herself hoping this moment would never end.

--

Asagi rolled onto her side and looked over the edge of her bed at where Torako was sleeping on her futon. It was funny, she thought, how small and vulnerable she looked with her bruises and her bandaged hand and forehead. And of course the fact that she was wearing a set of Asagi's typically girly pajamas couldn't help but add to the effect. Lightning flashed, and in the split second invasion of light into the darkness she thought she saw Torako flinch in her sleep. Was it real, or just the movement of shadows?

_So the secret's finally out,_ she thought. Not that she'd been doing a very good job of keeping her feelings a secret up till now anyway. In a way she was surprised that Torako hadn't caught on long ago, but then she didn't strike her as the most savvy person when it came to romance. She felt relief that she'd been able to tell Torako how she felt, and happiness that those feelings were reciprocated, but she couldn't help but feel uncertainty as well. As she watched her friend (girlfriend now? Lover? Tonsil-hockey partner?) sleep and listened to the rain outside, she thought _Do I really love you?_ She couldn't shake the feeling that maybe she only wanted Torako around her because she knew she'd do whatever she asked her to, and that thought scared her. _Could I really be _that _bad a person?_

No. No, that couldn't be it. As incongruent as their personalities were there was something about Torako that Asagi couldn't resist. She didn't know if it was the way she could always be depended on to get something done or give an honest answer, or her dry as dust sense of humor, or just the way she gave Asagi's personality something to bounce off of, but there was definitely something there that she found attractive. As painfully cliche as it sounded, she could only chalk it up to the old saying that opposites attract.

Only wanting her as a doormat couldn't explain Asagi's attempt to draw Ohzawa's wrath, either. While it was true that she'd spoken without thinking and hadn't really considered the consequences, she liked to think that she still would have done it if she had. Somehow she found the thought of seeing Torako beaten like that more frightening than taking the beating herself.

She moved onto her back. _So this is love, huh?_ She rolled the idea around in her mind a few times. _I love her. I love Torako. I love you, Torako. I, Asagi Ayase, love Torako Takino._ It felt weird to actually put it into words, and the more she used it the more bizarre the word "love" sounded. She supposed she'd get used to it after a while; she _was_ fairly new to this, after all.

Just for kicks, she tried putting words to a new idea: _I want to have sex with Torako._ She suddenly felt dirty.


	15. The Rhyming Box

Torako was dimly aware of the chirping of birds outside the window and the light of the sun on the other side of her eyelids. She put an arm over her eyes and groaned softly. _Oh right, the fight. God, _she was sore. As she woke up the events of the previous day all came back to her. Her eyes opened. Last night. She moved her arm and she was looking at the bottom edge of Asagi's bed. _Last night . . ._

She sat up and looked around; she was alone in Asagi's bedroom. A glance at the clock told her it was almost noon.

_Last night . . ._

She put her hands to her head. _Did that really happen? _Did Asagi really kiss her under that overhang? Did Asagi really confess her feelings for her? Did she really say she felt the same way? The vividness of the memories and the fact that they weren't rapidly fading like most of her dreams told her that they were real, but she was having trouble believing it.

She heard the door opening and looked up. "Hey, sleepyhead!" Asagi said as she came into the room carrying a plate. "Did you sleep okay?"

Torako just looked at her and nodded dumbly.

Asagi set the plate on the bed and sat down at her desk. "I brought you some breakfast," she said. "Your clothes are out drying."

Torako got up and picked up the plate. Toast, with butter and grape jelly. Must be a bread day at their house. "Thanks," she said.

"Wondering about last night?" Asagi asked with a knowing smile. "Yes, all that really happened." She watched Torako take a bite. "I hope you're not having any second thoughts," she said, though she didn't sound very nervous.

Torako shook her head, then swallowed. "No, it's just . . . kinda hard to believe."

Asagi nodded. "I know what you mean." She fought the urge to go over and plant one on her lips to prove it was real. _Can't take things too fast . . ._

Torako finished the first piece of toast and picked up the second. "So . . . what now?"

"Well," Asagi made an act of pondering, "I was thinking I'd call everyone we knew and tell them the big news. First up would be your parents, obviously. Then we'd pack up and move somewhere we can get married."

Torako chewed and looked at her as if to say _Yeah, okay _in her usual sarcastic tone.

Asagi shrugged. "I don't know, just play it by ear like we agreed last night, I guess." She sat back in her chair. "As much as I hate to say it we'd probably better keep quiet about it."

Torako nodded. "I was thinking that too . . . though I doubt anyone at school would really be surprised."

Asagi nodded. "I don't think Yuko-chan would flip out." She looked at her then. "Do you want me to come with you when you go home?"

Torako paused chewing the last bite of toast. "Huh?" she said with her mouth full.

"Y'know, to help explain why you're all beat up."

"Oh, yeah, right." She shrugged. "Couldn't hurt, I suppose."

Asagi got up. "I'll go check on your clothes."

Torako looked at the crumbs on her plate. _'I don't think Yuko-chan would flip out.'_ Yeah, because _Oikawa'_s reaction was really the one that worried her. She thought of her sister, and wondered how she would react. Tomo always jokingly accused her of being more interested in girls than she was in guys anyway, but saying something as a joke and actually meaning it were two very different things. She had no idea how Tomo would react if she found out her twin sister really had fallen for another girl. Torako doubted she'd do anything extreme like disown her as a sibling, but given her previous jealous behavior she doubted any reaction would be particularly good. She didn't even _want_ to wonder how her parents would take it.

Suddenly she felt very scared.

--

As it turned out, Nao Takino's reaction to seeing her daughter bruised and in bandages wasn't seething rage so much as quiet disappointment. "You got in a fight again," was all she said.

"I didn't start it," Torako said quickly.

Nao shook her head. "Torako you _always_ say that, _every single time._ I can only believe that everybody's out to get you for so long."

Asagi stood in the doorway, feeling uncomfortable.

Torako followed her mother into the living room. "I never said that, but-"

Nao turned and cut her off with a wave of her hand. "You know what, forget it. I'm done. Go off and get in as many fights as you want, I'm through worrying." She headed into the kitchen. "Just don't come crying to me when someone throws you under a subway train."

Asagi pushed past Torako as she stood staring at her mother. "They were coming after me," she said.

Nao turned. "Hmm?"

Asagi took a deep breath. _Okay, bullshitting time. _"They were coming after me, for that prank we pulled a couple months ago." She looked at her friend. "She was protecting me." Not a _total_ lie, but still fudging it.

Torako looked at Asagi, wondering if she should play along. Finally she turned to her mother. "That's right," she said.

Nao shook her head and put her hands on her hips. "Whatever, I really don't care if you're telling the truth or not. Just . . . I don't wanna hear about it right now."

Torako sighed and went upstairs, followed by Asagi.

"She's really pissed," Asagi said.

Torako nodded. "My dad told me she knew a couple brothers who got into fights all the time when she was our age," she said. "One day one of 'em picked a fight with the wrong people and got thrown in front of a train. The other one got sent to prison for almost killing a guy."

"That's horrible," Asagi said quietly. "And I suppose she's afraid of the same thing happening to you, huh."

She nodded. "She's been threatening to write me off as a lost cause if I ever got in another fight."

Asagi put a hand on her shoulder. She was about to say something when the door to Tomo's room opened and she stepped out into the hall.

"Tora-chaWHOA what happened to you?!"

"Guess," Torako said.

Tomo thought a moment. "You got in a fight! Did you win?"

Torako shrugged and opened her bedroom door. "I guess."

"She took on _three,_" Asagi said proudly, holding up three fingers.

Tomo pumped her fist. "Awesome, go Tora-chan!" She followed them into her room. "I bet mom was pissed at you, huh."

Torako took her phone out of her pocket and plugged it into its wall charger. It was a miracle _that_ hadn't gotten smashed in the fight. "Oh yeah," she said. "She's probably already wondering what to say at my funeral."

Tomo sat down in her desk chair and spun. "I wouldn't worry about it, you know what a drama queen she is. Remember when I cut your hair and she said I _disfigured_ you?"

Torako had to laugh. "Well you kinda did, it looked like it was cut with a weed eater."

Asagi pictured that in her mind and had to giggle.

Tomo laughed with her and stopped spinning. "She'll probably forget all about it in a couple days like all those other times." She glanced out the window as she remembered. "I told her most of those fights in middle school you were just protecting me, but I don't think she believed me most of the time."

Torako paused and looked at her. "You . . . knew about that?"

Tomo just shrugged. "Of course, it didn't take long to figure it out." She looked annoyed. "I'm not _that _dumb, you know."

Torako looked at her in disbelief. "And . . . you just kept on pulling that shit? Even though you knew what would happen?"

Tomo shrugged again. "Well people learned to stay away after a while, right?"

Asagi felt like she shouldn't be there then, but didn't want to draw attention to herself by leaving either.

Torako made nonsensical angry gestures with her hands. "But . . . they _didn't!_ They just started coming after _me!_ And everyone else avoided me like I was some sort of thug!" She struggled for words as years of pent-up emotions began to bubble to the surface. "I . . . I couldn't . . . I couldn't make any friends at _all_ because of you!"

Tomo looked at her sister with a mixture of pain and regret. She obviously hadn't expected this to come up so suddenly any more than Asagi had. "What about me and Yomi?" She sounded a little hurt.

Torako shook her head. "Siblings don't count. And Yomi was always _your _friend, not mine," Torako said painfully. "I was sick of always being the fifth wheel hanging around you two because I didn't have anyone else and getting in the way."

Asagi stood back by the nightstand and tried to will herself into invisibility. She had no idea where all this was coming from, and she didn't like it.

Tomo looked at her sister with a wounded expression, then got to her feet and socked her in the gut. As Torako sank to the floor moaning and coughing Tomo looked down at her. "You're not a fifth wheel, stupid!" Her voice became shrill. "You weren't in the way! You're my sister and you're Yomi's friend and she's yours! I always liked having you around and Yomi did too!" Then she was running out of the room and down the stairs. They heard the front door slam, and through the window Asagi saw her running out the gate and down the street.

"Where did _that_ come from?" Asagi asked as she helped Torako onto the bed.

"I don't know," she said as she wiped at her eyes. "I just get upset with her sometimes and everything starts spilling out." Torako looked at her. "I'm sorry you had to see that."

Asagi shrugged. "Well, we all have fights with our siblings, so it's no big deal."

Torako looked at the floor. "I guess so," she said, then lay back and looked up at the sky through the window. "She's probably running to cry to Yomi," she said.

"Did you really not have _any _friends before high school?" Asagi asked, looking at Torako's partially exposed belly and fighting the urge to tickle it.

"Well I had some in grade school, but most of them went to different middle schools than I did. And then Tomo started pissing off ghetto kids." She sighed. "There was always Yomi, but I always got the impression she was more Tomo's friend than mine."

"Well you've got me and Yuko-chan now," Asagi said.

Torako looked up at her. "How come _you_ haven't got more friends?" she asked. "You're pretty popular, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I am." Modesty seemed to be an alien concept to Asagi. "But apparently once people actually get to know me they kind of avoid me."

"Gee, I wonder why," Torako mumbled sarcastically.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Asagi asked, poking her bellybutton with a finger.

--

While Torako had slept that morning, Asagi had made a phone call. As they approached the Oikawa residence that afternoon, Torako shook her head. "I still say this is a bad idea."

"You say everything is a bad idea," Asagi said. "Anyway, you don't have to drink if you don't want to."

"I just don't see the point."

Asagi sighed. "Torako, Torako, Torako. Underage drinking is an essential part of the summer vacation experience."

She didn't bother mentioning that she'd never heard that. "But at four in the afternoon, alone in someone's bedroom?" She hadn't figured Oikawa to be the sort who would go for this sort of thing, but then she'd never have figured Yomi to be the sort who would have a stack of porno mags stashed in her closet, either.

"Oh, we'll wait till nightfall of course," Asagi said. "We'll watch some movies or something until then." She pushed the doorbell by the gate.

"Come on in," said a voice from the speaker.

"Nice place," Torako said as Asagi led the way into the living room. It reminded her of Asagi's house; the Oikawas clearly had money, but weren't frivolous with how they spent it.

"Hey, Asagi." They turned to see a young woman who looked to be college age on the sofa watching television. "Hey, whatever your name is." She waved to Torako.

"That's Yuko-chan's sister, Rei," Asagi explained into Torako's ear. "She's the one who got us the beer."

Torako nodded.

"Thanks again for the beer, Rei," Asagi said.

Rei nodded. "Yup. Just don't spew in my room again, okay?"

"Isn't she cool?" Asagi whispered to Torako.

Torako glanced over at Rei to see her looking at her. "What happened to _you?_" the older girl asked.

"She got in a fight with Ohzawa," Asagi said before Torako could answer.

"_Ikue_ Ohzawa?" Rei asked.

Torako nodded. "Yeah."

"She won, too. Beat the crap out of her and two of her friends," Asagi told her proudly.

Rei turned back to the television. "Nice job. Had it comin', probably."

Asagi nodded and turned towards footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Hey guys," Yuko Oikawa said on her way down. "Sorry, I was just getting out of the bath when you showed up." Sure enough, her hair was wet.

"Not a problem," Torako said, glancing at the cigarette in Rei's hand. She reached into her bag and got out her own pack.

"Come on upstairs," she said, and led the way.

Oikawa's room was a lot nicer than Torako's, or even Asagi's. A bookcase occupied an entire wall, almost completely lined with non-fiction. Next to her dresser stood another set of shelves that was filled with DVDs and CDs, and next to her desk was a terrarium.

"Wow," Torako said, looking at all the books. "Have you read _all _of these?" There were so many subjects; biology, ornithology, entomology, history, archaeology, anthropology, astronomy, even paleontology.

Oikawa laughed. "I _wish. _I've read maybe a third of 'em. I keep getting new books even though I still haven't read most of the ones I've already got."

"I wish I had that problem," Torako muttered, then bent down to look into the terrarium. "Ball python?" she asked.

Oikawa nodded and went over to unlatch the lid and lift the snake out. "Yeah, his name's Thulsa Doom." She held the small python out as it coiled around her hand. "Do you want to hold him?"

Torako leaned back and shook her head. "Ah, no thanks."

Oikawa put Thulsa Doom back in the terrarium and latched the lid. "Nobody ever wants to hold him," she said.

"Ena held him," Asagi pointed out. "She loves snakes."

Oikawa nodded. "Yeah, Ena's cool. So what do you guys want to do? I've got plenty of movies if you want to watch something."

--

Not only was Asagi serious about getting drunk, but she was also apparently a lightweight. She was only on her third can and she was reeling. As she laughed at something that wasn't even funny Torako grimaced at the can in her hand. She was still on her first one. _God this shit's nasty. Where do they brew it, in a train station toilet? _She made a mental note to avoid this brand in the future.

"But serioushly, Yuko-shan . . . Yuko-shan. Yuuuuuuuuuuuko-shan. Listen. Listennamee."

"I'm listening," Oikawa giggled, already tipsy.

Asagi put an arm around her and pointed. "You . . . yer a true friend, Yuko-shan. Only a true friend would offer us free beer like this."

Oikawa nodded and laughed. "Asagi, you're _annihilated._"

"An' proud of it!" Asagi sat up straight. "So tell me, Yuko-shan," she slurred. "You like anybody? C'mon, you can tell poppa."

Oikawa blushed and shrugged. "I don't know," she said lamely.

"You do!" Asagi laughed. "C'mon, spill. I'll tell you who I like."

Torako looked up from pulling the tab off her can.

"Okay, who?" Oikawa asked.

"You first," Asagi said.

She sighed. "Fine, I like . . . Kawashima."

Asagi leaned back and laughed even harder. "_Him?_" she said incredulously when she'd caught her breath.

"Why, what's wrong with him?" Oikawa asked defensively.

"Nothing," Asagi said, "if you like quiet bookworms with a sarcastic sense of humor."

"Who exactly do you think you're talking to?" Torako asked her.

"Point taken," Asagi conceded, then patted Oikawa on the shoulder. "Yuko-shan, you have my blesshing."

"Okay then," Oikawa said, "what about you? Who do you like?"

Asagi took a swig from her can. "I like . . ." she raised a hand and pointed dramatically. "Torako!" When Oikawa just stared at her she elaborated. "Yasee, I confesshed my feelings to her last night. Or yeshterday. Whatever. And she reciprocated."

Torako shook her head. _Of all the ways to break the news . . ._

Oikawa looked back and forth between then. "Really?"

Torako nodded. "Yeah."

"I can safely say I'm not the least bit surprised," Oikawa said before taking a sip of beer. "Or at least I might be if I were more sober."

"You're not gonna freak out on us, are you?" Torako asked.

Oikawa shook her head. "Nah, nah, I can be open-minded." She took another sip. "It'll take some getting used to, though." She looked back and forth between them. "So are you two dating now, or what?"

"We don't really know yet," Torako said. "We're still trying to work out where to go from here."

Asagi cackled. "So far wivv jus' made out a couple times." She turned to Torako with a lecherous gleam in her eye. "Hey Tora-shan, le'ss givver a demonstration."

Torako set her beer up on Oikawa's nightstand. "Let's not."

"Yeah guys, I don't need to see that," Oikawa said. "I'm nowhere near drunk enough to wanna see my two best friends suck face."

Asagi ignored her and crawled forward on her hands and knees. "C'mere Tora-shaaaaan!" she slurred.

Torako crawled back away from her, but quickly hit the bookcase. "Asagi, no, wait!"

"Mmmmm Tora-shaaaaaan smell so goooooood!" Asagi cackled drunkenly as she crawled up Torako's legs and pinned her to the floor.

"Waaaugh! Oikawa, help!"

--

Tomo was watching TV in the living room when she heard a car come to a stop outside. She heard her sister's voice thanking someone, and then it sped off. Soon after the front door opened and Torako came inside, half-carrying Asagi. She reeked of booze.

"Ah, Tomo," Torako said when she saw her. "Can I get a hand here?"

"What's with her?" Tomo asked, though anyone with a working nose could figure it out.

"She's smashed," Torako said. "I brought her here because her parents would flip if she stumbled in the door drunk."

"I'm cool, I'm cool," Asagi insisted.

"No, you're wasted," Torako said. "Come on, let's get you upstairs."

Asagi stood up and pushed away from Torako. As the two sisters watched she stood straight and cleared her throat. Then, waving her hands as though conducting an invisible orchestra, she began to sing. "Ohhh _I'MMM _an old-time _RHYME_-ing _BOX!_" she belted out tunelessly. Then she was on the floor.

--

"Hey Tora-chan," Tomo asked, "can I ask you a question?"

"Probably," Torako said, exhaling smoke. They were outside her window on the roof, while Asagi was inside snoring in Torako's bed.

"Where'd you get the idea that you were in the way with me and Yomi?"

Torako rested her arms on her knees and shrugged. It was a few moments before she answered. "I don't know, I guess it was just the way Yomi would always come over and ask if _you_ were in, not if _we_ were in. Or how whenever she'd call she'd ask to speak with you and not me."

Tomo was quiet for a moment. "I always liked having you around," she said. "Sometimes when we're at school I miss having you there."

Torako took another drag. "I miss you at school too sometimes. As masochistic as that sounds."

"I'm sorry I punched you."

Torako smirked and looked over at her. "Don't worry about it. It probably wouldn't have hurt so bad if I hadn't been kicked there four times yesterday."

Tomo laughed. "So did you really take on _three_ people?"

Torako nodded. "Well, sorta. Two of 'em didn't really put up much of a fight."

Tomo clenched her fists. "Well they're lucky _I_ wasn't there."

Torako scoffed.

"What? You don't think I could've taken 'em?" Tomo asked incredulously.

Torako looked at her. "Tomo, all it takes to put you out is a single punch." She looked out at the neighborhood. "And besides, I've seen you lose fights with _doors._"

"Oh, _one_ . . . _three_ times!" Tomo crossed her arms. "I'd still take 'em on though. Nobody messes with my sister and gets away with it!"

"Funny," Torako said as she breathed smoke, "you didn't seem to have that attitude back in middle school."

"I've matured since then," Tomo said defensively. "I've grown as a person."

"That was _last year,_" Torako said.

"Shut up, damn you!" Tomo said angrily. "Why do you gotta be so mean all the time?"

Torako put up a hand placatingly. "Fine, fine. I do appreciate the sentiment."

Tomo reached over and patted her shoulder. "It's okay Tora-chan, I forgive you."

"So are you two gonna make out, or what?"

They both looked at the mass of disheveled light brown hair sticking out the window between them. Below the hair was Asagi's smirking face.

"Oh good, you're awake," Torako said.

"I threw up in your bed."


	16. Where the Ocean Meets the Sand

Tomo threw the covers off of her sleeping sister and dragged her out of bed and onto the floor by her leg. "Wake up call!"

"AaaaaaaOOOWW!" Torako yelled as she hit the floor with a _thud._ "What the hell!"

Tomo stood back as she got to her feet and rubbed the back of her head. It had been over a week since her fight with Ohzawa and her flunkies, and life had more or less returned to normal around the Takino household. What passed for normal, anyway; in the Takino family what constituted normal sometimes differed dramatically from the common definition. "Asagi called me," Tomo said before Torako could yell at her some more. "She said you weren't answering your phone."

Torako looked at her phone on the nightstand. "Probably because I keep it on vibrate," she said as she leaned down and picked it up.

"Anyway, you're supposed to call her."

Torako had already opened her phone, nodding as she looked up Asagi's name in her contacts. "Yeah, yeah, okay."

"Torako!" Asagi's voice said into her ear. "I was getting worried."

"I doubt that," Torako said and looked at Tomo. _Why hadn't she left yet?_

"Anyway, I hope you don't have any plans today, because we're hitting the beach."

Torako glanced out the window at the cloudless sky. "And if I _do_ have plans?"

Asagi laughed. "Nice try, but Tomo-chan already told me you didn't." Her voice became uncertain. "Why, did you not want to go?"

"Just keeping up the routine. Yeah, I can go."

"Great!" Asagi said, a smile in her voice. "I'll be right over."

Torako closed the phone and looked down at her sister. "No, you can't come."

Tomo shrugged and turned to leave the room. "I didn't want to anyway. I'm going to Chiyo-chan's with Yomi and Osaka."

_That can't be her real name,_ Torako thought as she began to get ready.

--

Asagi was waiting at the gate when Torako stepped outside into the sunlight, squinted, and put on her sunglasses. "Morning," she said, though it was getting closer to noon. As they headed down to the train station Torako lit a cigarette and glanced over at Asagi. It had been a just over week since they'd both confessed their feelings for each other, but so far their relationship didn't seem to have changed much outside the occasional kiss or affectionate touch. Not that either of them seemed to mind; Torako was content to let things progress at their own pace, and so far she was happy with simply knowing that someone cared for her as more than just a friend or a sibling. If Asagi was unhappy with the way things were going, she was keeping it to herself.

For her part, Asagi couldn't decide whether she was happy with the current situation or not. She'd staked her claim, making Torako more or less hers. Whether anyone aside from Yuko-chan knew about it was merely details; she was still treating it as official, whether anyone recognized it or not. And now that she'd gotten hold of her, there was no rush to make anything happen. She knew Torako was in no hurry, so there was no worrying about her getting tired of waiting for their relationship to progress and backing out. (Not that Asagi would let her if she tried, of course.) On the other hand though, she couldn't deny that a certain part of her dearly wanted to bring their level of intimacy beyond just kissing.

"Hey, there's a taiyaki stand on the way that I wanna stop at," Torako said, breaking the silence. "I haven't really eaten yet."

Asagi looked at her. "Torako, I absolutely forbid it."

"Yeah, just try and stop me."

"Hey." Asagi jerked a thumb at her chest. "If there's gonna be an abusive one in this relationship, it's gonna be _me._"

"I can actually see that," Torako said, eyeing her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Asagi asked, putting on a mock defensive tone.

Torako shrugged. "You're just pushy, is all."

"And you obviously like being pushed around, so I fail to see the problem."

Torako chose not to confirm or deny that claim. "I didn't say it was a _problem,_ I just said you were pushy," she said.

"Yeah, but you like it," Asagi reiterated.

"I wasn't complaining, though." Torako said.

"Then why'd you bring it up?"

"All I was saying was that you're pushy." Torako was getting a little annoyed now.

"Yeah, but you like it," Asagi repeated again.

"I . . . that wasn't my point." What about this was so hard to grasp?

"Then what's your point?" Asagi asked, trying not to smile. This was fun.

"That you're pushy."

"But you like it, so why are you complaining?"

"I'm not _complaining,_ I'm just _saying _that-"

"Why are you getting so upset?" Asagi interrupted her. "I mean _clearly _you like it when I boss you around, because otherwise you'd have told me to take a hike a long time ago."

"I'm . . . not getting upset!" Torako shook her head.

"You seem pretty upset right now."

"I'm not . . . you're . . . you . . ." Finally she just shook her head. "Oh, never mind."

"You'll never win an argument with that attitude," Asagi teased.

"Oh shut up."

--

"So I was talking with Yuko-chan the other day," Asagi was saying as they chose a spot under a beach umbrella and spread their towels. "I was wondering if it would be considered masturbation or incest if two clones had sex."

Torako sat down on her towel "Why would you wonder about that?"

Asagi shrugged and sat down beside her. "I was bored. Anyway she said it would be like if two identical twins did it, since identical twins come from the same egg so they're basically clones of each other anyway."

_Makes sense,_ Torako thought, though her grasp of genetics was admittedly slippery at best. They'd never really covered that in school. _I suppose they're genetically identical if they both come from the same set of DNA._ "I'm sure there's a better way to learn that piece of trivia." She said as she dug through Asagi's bag for the sunblock.

"So then I was wondering if two _identical twins_ had sex, would _that_ count as incest or masturbation?"

Torako glanced around to make sure there was nobody close enough to overhear their conversation, then saw that Asagi was looking at her. "What?"

"Well what do _you_ think?"

"About what?" She had a pretty good idea, but thought it better to feign ignorance in this case.

"Incest or masturbation?"

"I can't see that question ever coming up in my life."

"_Really?_" Asagi asked with a leer.

Torako looked at her for a moment before the gears clicked and she leaned away with a look of disgust. "Oh you are _sick!_"

Asagi began laughing. "Took you long enough." She waved her hand. "Don't worry, I'm just messin' with ya."

"Tomo and I aren't identical twins anyway, so that wouldn't apply _whatever_ you decide it is."

Asagi reached over and took the sunblock from Torako. "Lay down, I'll do your back." As she squirted lotion onto her palm she added, "Try not to enjoy it too much, ya pervert."

Torako just rolled her eyes as she felt Asagi's hands on her back.

"So you're two-egg twins, huh . . ."

"Have you _looked _at us?"

"So it would just be plain old incest if you two got it on, then? Well that's pretty kinky too."

Torako raised herself on her elbows and looked back at her. "Seriously, you're really starting to weird me out here."

Asagi laughed. "Sorry."

Torako rested her chin on her folded arms and stared ahead as Asagi rubbed the lotion into her skin. She was pretty sure she was sufficiently lotioned up by now, but she didn't feel like saying anything just yet.

"So does she know about us yet?" Asagi asked as she paused to pull her hair back into a ponytail.

"I'm kind of afraid to tell her," Torako admitted. "I don't really know how she'd take it."

"Afraid she wouldn't approve?"

Torako shook her head. "More like jealous. When I got that first note and started hanging out with you she got all weird and clingy for a while."

Asagi cooed. "Aww, that's _adorable,_ she doesn't want me to steal you away from her."

Torako made an irritated sound. "Yeah, anyway, if she took it bad I could definitely see her trying to punish me or sabotage us."

"Yeah, that wouldn't be good," Asagi said as she sat back. "Okay, my turn."

Torako got up and squeezed some sunblock onto her palm. She looked down at Asagi's back and hesitated a moment. _Oh calm down, it's no different from when you put lotion on Tomo._ She put her hands on Asagi and started rubbing. _That's a lie and you know it,_ she thought to herself.

"Try not to enjoy it too much," Asagi said back at her.

--

So far they hadn't done much actual swimming. As Asagi had said when they were getting off the train, girls their age didn't go to the beach to swim so much as to show off the goods. Which apparently involved laying on their towels in the shade of the beach umbrella and listening to the little battery-powered radio Torako had brought.

"Isn't this nice?" Asagi asked, breaking a twenty-minute stretch of silence. "Nice and quiet."

Torako nodded, opened her eyes, and took a drag from her cigarette. "Peaceful," she said as she tapped the ashes into a hole scooped in the sand. The last time she'd come to the beach with Tomo she'd spent ten minutes getting a beach ball bounced off her head.

Asagi took a deep breath and let out a contented sigh as she folded her arms behind her head and brought her legs in halfway and crossed them. As she swung her foot in the air to the tune of the sickeningly upbeat pop song on the radio she closed her eyes and smiled. This was turning out to be a good day.

"Hey, look over there," she said.

Torako raised her head. "Hm?"

"Don't _look,_ stupid!" Asagi said urgently.

She put her head back down. "But you said . . . !"

"Yeah, but you can't just _look,_ it's too obvious," Asagi told her.

"I don't even know what I'm supposed to be looking _at,_" Torako said.

"Two guys were checking us out just now."

"Okay." Torako feigned indifference, but she felt her pulse quicken a little.

"They went off somewhere though."

"Uh-huh."

"You can't fool me, you know," Asagi said. "You're excited you got checked out, don't deny it."

"Okay."

Asagi made a rude noise at her and turned over onto her stomach. Torako smiled a little and listened to a seagull fly overhead.

--

It was early in the evening when Torako finally walked in the door at her house.

"Get any phone numbers?" her mother asked from the living room.

"No," Torako answered back as she headed up the stairs.

She heard a _That's too bad_ noise. "Well, there's still time for you."

Torako rolled her eyes and opened the door to her room. As soon as she'd shut it behind her it banged open again and Tomo stood in the doorway. "Torako!"

"You're too loud," she said as she set her bag down and stretched out on her bed.

"Torako!" Tomo repeated and stood over her. "Chiyo-chan has a beach house!"

Torako closed her eyes. "Who's Chiyo-chan again?"

Tomo smacked her on the face.

"Ow!" Torako sat up. "Hey, that hurt!"

Tomo looked at her with lowered eyelids. "You're supposed to be jealous."

Torako sighed. "Fine, I'm jealous."

Tomo grinned smugly. "_And _she invited me and Yomi there for a couple days and not _you._"

"That doesn't surprise me, seeing as we've never met."

Tomo smacked her again.

"Would you knock it off?!" Torako yelled.

"Quit trying to be all grown up, dammit!" Tomo said angrily. "You're supposed to beg me to take you along."

"Who said I wanted to go anyway?"

Tomo smacked her a third time. "It's a _beach house,_ woman!" she said before Torako yanked her shirt up over her head and shoved her out of the room. Tomo was falling backwards onto the floor in the hall when she closed the door and locked it. _Damn she's loud,_ she thought as she sprawled out on her bed and listened to the crickets outside. A couple days at a beach house did sound like it could be fun, but she didn't want to impose. And besides, it would be a couple days at a beach house with _Tomo._ She could probably get the same effect by just flooding their yard and pretending it was the ocean.

Torako stretched her arms and yawned. She heard Kuro whine at her door, but she didn't like having him in her room very much. It became a moot point when she heard Tomo's door open and Kuro went trotting over there. _More her dog than mine anyway,_ she thought as she yawned. She was just closing her eyes when their mother called up that it was time for dinner.


	17. A New Semester

Torako dumped herself back into her usual seat. The first day back from vacation was always the worst. She folded her arms on top of her bag and put her head down with a tired groan. No point getting settled, the seating arrangement would be changing once homeroom started anyway.

She looked up the row at the back of Ohzawa's head. _You're here awful early, _she thought. _Should be interesting how things go there from now on._ She turned her eyes and watched Hagiwara arrive and head for her desk. Her nose seemed to have healed nicely from its collision with Torako's parietal. Good thing too, because being small and cute was about all that little dunce had going for her. She didn't see the third member of that little group anywhere, but he was habitually late anyway.

She stopped caring when Asagi arrived in the room. She was a little comforted that she looked about as zombified as Torako felt. As she moved through the rows of desks for their usual morning meeting she acknowledged greetings with grunts and lazy half-waves. Then she was plopping her ass down on Torako's desk with a tired sigh. "Urrrgghhh, I am _way _too tired to be here today," she said with her eyes closed.

"Join the club," Torako mumbled into her arms.

"Do you think it's too late to skip?" Asagi asked and looked down at her.

"Probably."

She nodded and made a disappointed sound, then said angrily, "Where do you get off?"

Torako looked up to see Oikawa coming over to them. "What?" she asked.

"You should be just as tired as us," Asagi said.

"Oh right, sorry," Oikawa said as she leaned against the desk next to Torako's. "I hope I get a window seat this time," she said as she looked outside.

"I want a seat in the back," Torako mumbled.

"_I _want a seat in the back," Asagi said down at her. "You can have a seat one row up from the back."

"Why can't we both sit in the back?" Torako asked.

"Because it's easier to pass notes if we're single file," Asagi explained as though it were painfully obvious.

"Right, of course," Torako said as the bell rang. What kind of notes did she have in mind? Probably trash-talk about teachers and classmates, knowing Asagi.

"Okay goobers, siddown, siddown," Okabe called out as he strode into class. "Just because the arrangement's changing doesn't mean you can just hang out when the bell rings."

Asagi _hmmphed_ and got off Torako's desk.

As soon as everyone was seated Okabe laughed. "Okay, everybody up for the new seating arrangement. Ha _ha!_"

Five minutes later Torako was sitting in the exact middle of the room, watching Ikue Ohzawa hesitate at the desk behind her. _Okabe, you son of a bitch._

"Problem, Ohzawa?" Okabe asked.

"Um, no," she said as she finally put her bag down and sat.

Torako sighed and turned forward. Asagi was two rows over and two rows ahead of her, and Oikawa was in the front row next to the door. So much for optimism. She started slightly as she felt something jab her shoulderblade. She turned her head to see what Ohzawa wanted. "Yeah?" she asked, doing her best to sound disinterested.

Ohzawa looked at her a little nervously. _Guess I really put the fear of God in you, huh, _Torako thought. "Truce?" Ohzawa asked.

Torako looked at her for a second, then nodded. "Yeah, okay," she said, then turned back around. Well, guess _that _was finally settled. She looked over at Asagi inspecting the skin on her elbow. _Please don't tell anyone about the fight, _she pleaded silently.

"Okay," Okabe said once everyone was settled in their new places. "I won't bother asking if you're all ready for the new semester, since I know most of you would probably drink molten lead if it meant you'd get out of here." He leaned heavily on the podium. "Hell, I know _I _would."

"Hey Okabe, how's Kumiko-chan?" Asagi asked.

Okabe cast an annoyed glance at her. "She's fine, thanks for asking." He turned back to the class. "Anyway, anyone do anything fun over your break?"

"Sensei!" came a girl's voice from over by the windows. "I spent three days at an inn by the beach!"

"Sounds fun," Okabe said.

"The rest of the time I played video games," she said.

"Shut up, Izumi. Anyone else?"

"I went to Hawaii," someone said.

Okabe pointed at him. "I still maintain that I hate you, Shima." He held up a hand. "Change of subject! I suppose since it's the new semester, we'd better decide on a new class representative. Let's hear some names, people."

As the nomination process began Torako tuned them out and rested her chin on her hand as she looked out the window and wished she didn't have to be here on such a beautiful morning. The fact that she'd probably just spend it in bed otherwise didn't seem to matter; it was the principle of the thing.

--

Torako couldn't help but notice that their seating arrangement for lunch had changed too. Whereas Asagi had previously always sat across from her, now she'd moved over to sit at her right side. As they opened their lunches and got ready to eat Torako glanced over at her. _Beats a PDA, _she thought.

"So Yuko-chan, did you have fun working all month?" Asagi asked.

"I think I'll let Rei carry on the family business without me," Oikawa said.

"Why, what happened?" Torako asked.

"Apparently my mom thought it would be a good idea for me to fill in when one of the vet techs went on vacation." She made a queasy face. "I had to be there for three surgeries and a necropsy."

"What happened to not minding seeing blood?" Asagi teased.

Oikawa shuddered as she remembered. "Well I'd never seen that _much _of it before. Once they nicked an artery and it splashed all across the wall. And then there were the organs and the broken bones. It's a lot different when they're still in the body."

Torako looked down at her chicken and meatballs. Suddenly they looked a lot less appetizing. "Are you really qualified to do surgery?" she asked as she forced herself to eat.

Oikawa shook her head. "No, but I was just handing people instruments and holding legs out of the way, stuff like that." She took a sip of her milk tea. "What did you guys do?"

"We mostly just hung out," Asagi said. "Oh, and we went to the beach."

Oikawa nodded. "Sounds relaxing," she said, then looked at her with a curious look on her face, then at Torako.

"What?" Torako asked.

"If you're wondering," Asagi said, "no, we haven't done it yet."

Torako slapped a hand over her eyes. _PLEASE tell me nobody heard that!_

"I . . . wasn't wondering that," Oikawa said, not very convincingly.

Asagi gave her a knowing look and then mercifully changed the subject. "So Torako, how do you like the new seating arrangement?"

"Sucks," she said as she chewed.

"Aww, but you get to sit in front of your best friend!" she teased.

Torako narrowed her eyes at her.

"So does she still hate your guts?" Oikawa asked.

"Why does every third conversation we have seem to become about Ohzawa at one point or another?" Torako asked.

Asagi shrugged. "Well, she _did_ nail you in the head with a rock and then use you for kickboxing practice."

"And then you beat the crap out of her and two of her friends," Oikawa added.

"Anyway, we've decided on a truce," Torako said as she picked up her last meatball.

"Good," Oikawa said. "I don't know if they could survive another tangle with you."

"Oh shut up," Torako said as Oikawa and Asagi giggled.

--

"We should see a movie," Asagi said as they were leaving school for the day.

"What, today?" Torako asked.

Asagi nodded. "Yeah. Is anything good showing?"

"I have to go grocery shopping with Tomo," she said. "Our parents are both working late tonight so we've gotta make ourselves dinner."

Asagi grimaced. She'd tried Torako's cooking once, and had wished she hadn't. "What're you making?" she asked.

Torako shrugged. "Probably something simple like chicken or hamburgers. I'm not much of a cook and Tomo's too impatient for anything complicated."

"Yeah, you _are _pretty terrible," Asagi said.

Torako glared at her for a second but didn't say anything. _Well it's true, _she thought, _but you're supposed to say something like 'Oh, no, your cooking's fine.' _They crossed the street off of school grounds, and she immediately lit a cigarette.

"How many of those do you go through a day?" Asagi asked her.

"Too many, probably," Torako said as she held it between her fingers and looked at it.

"It's a wonder your parents haven't noticed that you always smell like smoke when you get home from school," Asagi said.

"My dad smokes too, so we're all pretty used to the smell by now. Maybe they just don't notice."

"So why'd you start, anyway?"

"What's with all the smoking questions?"

Asagi shrugged. "Curious, I guess."

"I heard it relieved stress," Torako explained. "Living in the same house with Tomo can get on your nerves pretty quickly. Besides, I always thought it looked cool."

"Ahh," Asagi said, "your obsession with being cool."

"I am _not_ obsessed with being cool," Torako said, a little defensively. "I just don't want to be a spaz like my sister."

"Don't worry, you pull it off," Asagi assured her. "You're the cool twin, Tomo-chan's the cute one."

Torako felt like she should say that she was cute too, but she had to admit that "cute" wasn't how one would normally describe a tall skinny girl who smoked like a chimney and frowned all the time.

"So you still haven't told her yet, I take it," Asagi said.

"Hm?" Torako made a questioning sound.

"About us, silly," Asagi said and bumped her with her shoulder.

Torako sighed. "_No,_ I haven't told her yet."

"You're gonna have to sooner or later," Asagi reminded her.

"Have you told _your_ family?"

Asagi shook her head. "No, why?"

"Then why are you so interested in whether or not I tell Tomo?"

"Well you guys are twins, aren't you? I thought twins were supposed to share everything with each other."

Torako scoffed around her cigarette. "Well I can tell you right now _that_ aint true."

"Oh, so I don't get a three-way with you two?" Asagi asked, and laughed at Torako's grossed-out reaction.

--

"... and then that little runt Chiyo-chan got more votes than me, so now I'm only _vice_ president of the class."

Torako couldn't help but wonder if that wasn't a _good_ thing. "So how many votes did you actually get?"

"Three," Tomo said as they walked to the grocery store.

Torako fought the urge to laugh. "Let me guess, two of those were you and Yomi?"

Tomo shook her head. "No, Yomi voted for Chiyo-chan. _Traitor._"

Torako couldn't blame her. She'd never met this Chiyo-chan, but she sounded pretty smart. Besides, she couldn't help thinking _anyone_ would make a better class president than her sister.

"I bet _you _didn't even get _nominated _for _your_ class," Tomo taunted her.

"Does it really count as a nomination if you do it yourself?" Torako asked. "Anyway, I wouldn't want to be class president anyway."

"No, you like _taking _orders, not _giving_ them," Tomo said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Tomo swiped her hair into her eyes and lowered her voice in an approximation of Torako's. "I don't want to do that, but since you told me to do it Asagi, I guess I _will _go buy a bunch of sex toys for you."

Torako smacked her shoulder. "That's exactly what you made Yomi do, you hypocrite."

Tomo shrugged and brushed her hair from her eyes. "At least Yomi put up a fight." Not much of one, but she didn't bother getting specific.

Torako just blew smoke and walked forward.

"But hey, if you like being her uke, who am I to judge? I think it's a little kinky actually."

She glared at her but didn't say anything. _So now you're going to start with that too?_

"Seriously," Tomo said, "you two should just make out and be done with it."

"I could say the same of you and Yomi," Torako said.

"Who says we haven't?"

"Who says _we_ haven't?"

Tomo began peering at her.

"What?"

Tomo said nothing, just rubbed her chin and opened one eye real wide in a comical parody of close inspection.

"_What,_" Torako repeated, feeling a little uncomfortable.

Tomo's eyes lit up and her mouth spread in a grin. "You _have,_ haven't you?!"

Torako shook her head and tried to say something, but couldn't think of anything. _What do I do now, deny it? Or fess up?_

Before she could make up her mind Tomo began laughing and dancing around her. "Tora-chan's a lesbian, Tora-chan's a lesbian!"

"Hey . . . I am not!"

Tomo stopped. "Oh, so you're bisexual?"

Torako looked down the street. She couldn't help but notice they'd stopped walking. "I thought we were going to get groceries," she said.

Tomo ignored that and patted her shoulder. "Don't worry Tora-chan, I won't tell mom and dad."

"Can we just get moving? I'm getting hungry."

"So are you two going out now, or what?" Tomo asked as they started back down the street.

"We don't really know." She was taking this a lot better than she'd expected. She should have expected _that,_ really. Life usually had a way of doing exactly the opposite of what she thought it would.

They got about a half a block before Tomo suddenly turned and punched her sister in the arm as hard as she could.

"_Ow,_ what was that for?!" Torako asked angrily as she rubbed her arm.

"That's for getting some action before me!" Tomo said and punched her again. Yep, _there _was the reaction she'd been expecting.

"What, Yomi wasn't interested?" Torako laughed painfully as Tomo punched her a third time, then took a swing of her own. Tomo squealed and took off running, laughing as Torako chased after her. They got two blocks before Tomo's energy ran out as it always did and she lost her lead.

"No! No, Torako!" She laughed as her sister caught up to her and grabbed her around the waist. "What're you doing?! Stop it!"

Torako grunted as she lifted Tomo off the ground and lugged her over to a half-empty trash can. Tomo yelled as she was dumped unceremoniously into the garbage, ass first. Torako dusted off her hands and stepped back as Tomo tried and failed to extricate herself.

"Hey, help me out of here!" Tomo tried to sound angry, but she was laughing too hard. "This . . . this isn't funny!"

Torako shrugged. "I don't know, looks pretty funny from where I'm standing."

The can started bouncing as Tomo tried to straighten her body. "When . . . erf . . . when I get out of here . . . WAAAUGH!!" She yowled as the trash can fell onto its side with a loud BANG and she popped out onto the street.

When Tomo rolled on the ground holding her arm instead of leaping to her feet Torako knelt down beside her. "Hey . . . you okay?"

"My elbow fell off!" Tomo cried.

" . . . What?"

"My elbow fell off!" she repeated. "You gotta help me find it!"

Torako sighed and shook her head as she stood up. "Do you really expect me to fall for that?"

Tomo was quiet for a few seconds. "My arm bones exploded!"

Torako nodded and turned to start walking again. "Yeah, okay." She got ten steps before Tomo's fist slammed her in the back. "Daaah!" she yelled and bent backwards.

"Wa-CHA, surprise attack!" Tomo said triumphantly as Torako put a hand on her spine and dropped to her knees.

"You little . . ."

Tomo put her hands on her hips and stuck out her tongue. "Serves you right, ya _pervert._"

Torako growled and grabbed for her as she got to her feet. Tomo yelled and took off down the street, laughing as she ran with Torako in pursuit.

* * *

**-Author Notes-**

And this concludes the revision. All new material from here on out, which probably means there won't be a new chapter for a while. I say this not because I assume that you're all waiting breathlessly, endlessly refreshing your browsers in hope of an update, but because I just like keeping my readers (however few of them there may be) up to speed.

Well I suppose _somebody_ might be doing that. I probably would not want to meet that person.


	18. Back in the Day

**SEVERAL YEARS PREVIOUS**

"You know you shouldn't be smoking those, Torako," Misao Otomo said with a warning tone in her voice.

"That's the whole _point,_" Torako said as she stooped down to pull the cigarette pack out of the machine's drop slot. As they continued walking she tore it open.

"You can't even breathe!" Misao said angrily as Torako took the first drag and coughed explosively. "Are you okay?"

Eventually Torako regained the use of her larynx. "I'm fine," she croaked. "I just gotta get more used to it."

"I don't even know why you'd _want_ to. It's just going to give you lung cancer and kill you."

Torako rolled her eyes. At least she wasn't threatening to tell her parents like she had when she'd bought that first pack. "Are you going to whine like this _every _time I light up?" she asked crossly.

"Well you're turning into a punk!" Misao said. "And I don't like it!"

"What, because I smoke?" Torako laughed. "So that makes my dad a punk too, right?"

"Your dad's like forty."

Thirty-eight, but she didn't feel like correcting her. "Yeah, but he smokes." Torako smiled at Misao, but she was becoming increasingly annoyed with her. Of the few friends she didn't share with her sister, Misao had been one of only two that had ended up at her new school, and the only one that shared any classes with her. The problem was, Misao had apparently decided that she didn't like the new turn Torako's personality had recently taken, and never seemed to miss an opportunity to let her know it.

"Well if all you're gonna do is complain about everything I do you can just keep it to yourself," Torako said. "It gets a little old after a while."

"Why are you so cranky?"

Torako shrugged. "Cold, I guess." She hated winter, and freezing weather like this almost always put her in an unpleasant mood.

Misao nodded and looked down at her bare legs poking out from beneath her long coat. "It wouldn't be so bad if we didn't have to wear these stupid skirts all the time," she said. "My legs are _freezing._"

Torako nodded. The long wool socks she was wearing helped somewhat, but not much.

"Hey, there's your sister and Yomi-chan." Misao pointed up the street, where several blocks down a short girl and a taller one were talking with someone. A boy from their school, it looked like. As they watched the shorter girl put herself behind the taller one, using her as a shield.

"What the hell?" Torako muttered and picked up her pace. Judging by their body language she was sure that was indeed Tomo and Yomi, and it looked like whoever they were talking to hadn't exactly come with the friendliest of intentions.

As she wondered what exactly she was going to do if things got ugly they drew close enough to hear voices. "I'm warning you, you'd better back off right now," Yomi was saying. She sounded serious, and Torako knew she meant it; Koyomi Mizuhara was not afraid to get violent if the situation called for it (and sometimes when the situation _didn't_ call for it).

"Why are you even taking her side?" the boy asked. Torako recognized him as Daisuke Shirow, one of the _real_ punks at their school. A ghetto kid. Now that she knew who he was, she had a pretty good idea of what this was about. Tomo had nearly set him on fire in science class that day. The fact that it had been an accident (albeit one brought on by Tomo's rough-housing) clearly did little to quell his anger.

"Because she didn't mean to do it," Yomi said.

"Yeah, it was an accident," Tomo said over Yomi's shoulder. (She had to stand on her toes to do it.) "So get bent, stupid!"

Yomi sighed. "Tomo, you're not helping."

"What's going on here?" Torako asked, and they noticed her and Misao for the first time.

Tomo pointed at Shirow from under Yomi's arm. "He wants to beat me up!"

"She almost set me on fire today!" he said angrily.

"I know, she's an idiot," Torako said. "But you're not gonna beat her up."

Tomo put on a smug face and came out from behind Yomi and stand between her and Torako.

Shirow took a step forward. "And who's gonna stop me?" he asked. "You?"

Torako shrugged.

"Nyaaah nyaaaaaaaah," Tomo mocked. "You can't touch meeeee! You're too scaaaaared!" She stuck her thumbs in her ears and put out her tongue.

Shirow's punch wasn't particularly well aimed or even all that strong, but it had enough force behind it to make Tomo bite down on her tongue. Torako watched in shocked silence as she staggered back a step with her hands over her mouth. She knew she should do something, but she'd never been in a fight with anyone but her sister before; while she'd gotten pretty good at _acting_ tough, she had no idea what to do if fists actually started flying.

Tomo took her hands away and they all saw the blood on her lips and on her palms. She spat red on the ground and wailed. "AAAAAAAAAA!! 'Y 'ung! I 'it ah 'y 'ung!" she was screaming. "Wah ih ih'?!"

Yomi tried to calm her down. "You're fine, you're fine, your tongue's still there, it's just bleeding a little." Tomo wasn't having any of that however, and soon tears were streaming down her face and blood was streaming down her chin as she screamed.

Torako whirled on Shirow, and her school bag collided with the side of his head with a loud _smack._ He lurched back and she clubbed him with her bag again. "Leave my sister alone!" she shouted. "Get out of here!" She swung the bag again, but this time he ducked out of the way before he turned and ran. She watched him go before turning back to try to help get Tomo to stop crying.

* * *

**-Author Notes-**

I know, I know, this chapter is criminally short, and to be honest, basically filler done to prevent me from putting off working on this thing for too long. (Which is a real danger for me; sometimes I procrastinate so badly that a _year_ will go by before I touch a story I've started. Which inevitably means I hate everything written up to that point and feel compelled to make all _that_ better as well.) It also doesn't have a whole lot of bearing on current events, but I suddenly wanted to write this, so I did, and here it is.

I may do more of these little flashback episodes in the future. We'll see. (Hopefully at least some of them will actually be, y'know, _funny._)


	19. Failure Festival

**The Present Day**

Torako missed her old window seat. From where she sat in the middle of the room she could still see outside, but now there were a bunch of other students in the way, and she couldn't look as discreetly. Not that there was much to look at right now anyway; the sky was hidden behind a featureless gray-white sheet of cloud, and she could see an ominous line of thunderheads advancing from the southeast. She wondered how long it would be before they hit the city.

_Hopefully a little rain'll cool things down a bit,_ she thought as she rested her cheek on her hand and spaced off her classical literature class. It had been hot all day, but even worse was the humidity. Torako hated humidity; it made her feel sweaty and sticky all over. She shifted her eyes and thought of at least one good thing about this heat; it had made Asagi tie her hair back in a ponytail. She looked good in a ponytail.

Outside a bolt of lightning flashed between the distant storm and the ground.

--

"Looking forward to the culture festival?"

Torako shrugged as she put her cigarettes away and took her umbrella back from Asagi. The school's festival was coming up next week, and all over their school classes were scurrying to get ready. "I guess," she finally said noncommitally. "I'll wait and see what we end up doing before deciding how to feel about it."

Asagi nodded. "Yeah, I just hope we don't end up doing something lame."

"Or embarassing," Torako added.

"Well that would depend on who's being embarassed," Asagi said.

Torako glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. In her experience, she tended to be that _who_ with depressing regularity.

"Ugh, I hate it when it's so windy," Asagi said and looked down. Though Torako's umbrella protected their heads and most of their upper bodies from the rain, their legs were soaked.

"_I _hate it when you don't bring your own umbrella," Torako said.

Asagi pressed in closer. "Liar."

"I'm just saying, we'd be dryer if we both didn't have to cram under mine."

Asagi shrugged. "Well, I didn't think it looked like it would rain when I left home this morning."

"That's what weather forecasts are for," Torako pointed out.

Asagi shook her head. "Oh, you can never trust those half the time anyway. One time I was watching the news, and they said the next day's temperature would be 2,427 degrees."

Torako rolled her eyes. "They probably just forgot to erase the current temperature before putting in the new one."

"So they're unprofessional?" Asagi asked. "How is that any better?"

Torako sighed as she exhaled a lungful of smoke. It was like arguing with a brick wall sometimes. At least Asagi never got violent when she found herself on the losing side, unlike _some_ other people she knew. She paused as Asagi grabbed her sleeve, then realized they'd reached the point where they usually split up. "Oh, right," she mumbled and turned to accompany Asagi to her house.

"We'll probably just end up doing a cafe or something like every other class," Asagi said. "Okabe'd never let us do any of the _good _suggestions."

Torako wondered which suggestions had been submitted that she considered "good ones." Was the opium den one of them, or the strip club? Or maybe she was talking about the brothel, or the wrestling match, or the love pillow exhibition. She was pretty sure all but one or two suggestions put into that box had come from the same few low-minded individuals.

So far the only idea that seemed like it had a chance of working was the cosplay cafe ("Shut up Izumi," Okabe had said when that one was read aloud), and Torako wasn't feeling especially enthusiastic about dressing up in a silly costume and serving coffee and tea. She wondered if she could just cosplay as herself.

"Rei Ayanami," Asagi was saying.

"What?"

"If we do that cosplay cafe, that's who you should be," Asagi said as if she'd been reading her mind.

"Uh, yeah, probably not," Torako said.

"Oh come on, you're perfect," Asagi insisted. "You've got the quiet and emotionless thing down already." Her face turned lecherous. "And I _know_ you look sexy in bandages."

Torako glanced away as she felt herself blush. "If I do end up having to cosplay for this stupid thing, I'm not doing it as a character that annoys me."

Asagi crossed her arms. "Fine, what character _wouldn't_ you mind cosplaying?"

Torako thought for a moment as she tried to come up with one. She didn't watch a lot of anime, so she couldn't think of many characters with distinctive outfits. Finally she turned to Asagi. "Motoko Kusanagi?" she said with a shrug.

Asagi looked at her for a moment before she remembered who that was and started laughing. "Bahahaha! Her? _You?_"

"What," Torako said defensively.

Asagi shook her head and pointed at Torako's chest. "Torako honey, I'm afraid you're just not built for it."

"Oh shut up," she said and looked forward.

"On the other hand though, didn't she dress pretty skimpy?"

"I've changed my mind," Torako said immediately, and Asagi pouted.

--

"Where were _you?_" Tomo asked when Torako finally arrived home.

"At Asagi's," she said as she sat down to untie her shoes. "She didn't bring an umbrella so I walked her home and then hung out for a while."

Tomo immediately bent down to inspect her neck.

"What are you doing?" Torako asked, leaning away from her.

"Checking for hickeys," Tomo answered before Torako put a hand in her face and shoved her away.

"We didn't do any of _that,_" she said irritably before looking towards the living room at the sound of the television.

"Oh, mom's out," Tomo said. As if to prove it, she shouted at the top of her lungs, "TORA-CHAN'S A BIG OL' DYKE!"

Torako flung her shoe down and got to her feet. "I _told_ you I am _not a dyke!_" she snarled and grabbed for Tomo.

"Tora-chan, you're making me miss my show!" Tomo said as she ran up the stairs with Torako on her heels. She dove forward as they reached the top, catching Tomo around the waist and knocking her down.

"Hah!" Torako laughed triumphantly as she pinned her sister to the floor. "Gotcha!" She looked down at her. "Now what should I do with you?"

Tomo thrashed and growled at her. "Get off me, you ogre!"

"I don't know, I've still gotta take revenge on you for that dyke crack," Torako said thoughtfully. "Ah, I've got it."

Tomo howled as she was yanked to her feet. "Tora-chan what're you gonna do?!"

--

"I'M HOOOOOOME!" Nao Takino's shrill yell sounded through the house like the screech of a rusty gate.

"Hey," Torako said from the couch.

"What's going on here?" Nao asked when she arrived in the living room. Tomo sat at one end of the couch with a plastic bucket over her head. Torako had drawn a crude face on it in permanent marker and wrapped duct tape around it to keep her from pulling it off.

Tomo turned her head to her voice, though she couldn't see. "I'm being punished," she said in a muffled voice.

Nao looked at her daughters for a moment before she finally nodded. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

--

In the end it was decided that Okabe's homeroom class would be doing a cafe (much to the dismay of everyone, judging by the chorus of groans and sighs that accompanied the announcement), but it wouldn't be the cosplay variety (much to the dismay of Izumi, and the relief of Torako). The class's six kendo club members somehow managed to take advantage of the general indifference and indecision to push their idea through, and the class was informed that their cafe would have a yukata theme.

"Could be worse," Oikawa said when Asagi brought up the subject over lunch. "We could have gone with the cosplay."

"I _wanted_ the cosplay," Asagi complained. "I wanted to see who Tora-chan here would go as."

"I'd wear a shirt with _Gundam_ written on it," Torako said.

Asagi stuck her tongue out at her. "Oh well, I suppose this could be fun too."

"They'd better not make me a waitress," Torako muttered.

"You've just cursed yourself," Oikawa told her. "You know that, right?"

Torako sighed and picked up a meatball with her chopsticks. "_Yeah._"

"You've _got_ a yukata, right?" Asagi asked. Torako wasn't the sort of person she could easily imagine wearing one.

Torako nodded. "Yeah."

"Really?" Asagi asked.

"Why do you sound so surprised?" Torako looked at her accusingly.

Asagi shrugged. "I don't know, you just don't seem like the type to dress up in traditional clothes."

"I'll have you know my whole family gets done up for festivals," Torako said a little smugly.

"I'll have to buy one," Oikawa said after swallowing her food.

Torako paused her chewing. "That's no problem, you're loaded."

"What, your old one doesn't fit you anymore?" Asagi asked.

"I _have_ grown since I was thirteen," Oikawa said defensively.

Asagi shrugged. "Coulda fooled me."

"Screw you, you stupid daikini," Oikawa spat with insincere venom.

"Are you going to let her talk to me like that?" Asagi asked Torako.

She shrugged. "Yes."

"Looks like _someone's_ in for a spanking after school today," Asagi said, then laughed as Torako and Oikawa both choked on their food and turned red. "Don't worry Tora-chan, I'm kidding."

"You'd better be."

"_This_ time," she added with an evil smile.

--

"You're having your school festival _already?_" Tomo asked incredulously.

"Yup," Torako said as she watched Kuro trot along ahead of them. It was Tomo's turn to walk him today, but she'd decided to go along too. She needed some erasers, and she was running low on cigarettes.

"That's not fair," Tomo whined. "Ours isn't until _November._ I suppose you're having your sports meet before us, too."

Torako shrugged. "I don't know _when_ that is." Though people tended to assume she was athletic (for reasons she could never understand, given her scrawny build) Torako was usually somewhat terrible at sports, so she rarely paid attention to things like the scheduling of sports meets. (Somehow she was still able to get high scores in her PE classes, leading her to speculate that the main criterion for passing was simply _showing up._)

"So what are you doing?"

"A yukata cafe," Torako said with a wince.

"A cafe?" Tomo almost sounded disgusted. "That's lame!"

"You don't have to tell _me_ that." She shrugged. "But at least it's not a _cosplay_ cafe."

Tomo pointed. "That! You should've done _that!_ You could've been Fujiko Mine."

"Yeeeaaaah, _no._"

"Well that's who _I'd_ be."

Torako looked down at her. "Well last time I checked, I'm not you."

"You _wish_ you were me though," Tomo said with an arrogant toss of her head.

Torako laughed. "Yeah, I _want_ to act like I've just suffered a massive head injury."

"Watch it Tora-temee," Tomo threatened. "I _will_ strike you in anger."

Torako put up her hands in mock surrender. "Oooooh, I'm real scared. Please, Tomo-sama, don't hurt me!"

Tomo shook a fist at her, then relented. "Fine, I'll let it slide _this_ time. But only because I like you!"

"_Thank_ you," Torako sighed.

"You should put on your yukata when we get home!"

"No," Torako said flatly.

"Why not?" Tomo asked. "You'd need to make sure it still fits, right?"

"Of course it's going to fit," Torako said. "You just want an excuse to play that stupid game."

"Shut up!" Tomo said angrily. "The Come Now Game is fun!"

"I don't see how getting dizzy and crashing into furniture is fun."

"That's because you've abandoned the innocence and joy of childhood," Tomo said with a hint of sadness. "Already your eyes have lost that spark of youth."

"If the alternative is acting like _you,_ I'd say I'm better off." Torako took one last drag from her cigarette before pausing to grind it into the pavement.

"Don't listen to her Kuro," Tomo said to the dog as he stopped to relieve himself against a tree, "she's just a bitter old woman with a black and shriveled heart."

"_Four minutes younger than you,_" Torako pointed out.

--

As it turned out, Torako was given a job behind the counter pouring drinks. Apparently Okabe didn't think her demeanor was suitable for dealing with customers. Which was perfectly fine with her, she didn't want to run around taking orders and handing out drinks anyway. Asagi, naturally, had been put on waitress duty, along with Oikawa.

Not that that prevented them from spending the majority of their time hanging out. Since the only ones in the class, including its teacher, with any motivation for the project were its six kendo club members, calling the effort put forth "half-assed" would have been unjustifiably high praise. Though the prospect of seeing the variety of yukata on display had drawn in a decent number of people at first, the laziness that was so blatantly visible in every other aspect of their makeshift cafe clearly didn't help their word of mouth advertising. Apparently people didn't appreciate being seated at combined school desks and served cheap convenience store juice poured from plastic bottles into even cheaper waxpaper cups, no matter how pretty the girls serving them were.

"Talk about a failure," Oikawa said to nobody in particular. She and Asagi were spending their downtime at the counter (in reality a long table borrowed from somewhere and set up in front of the blackboard), and on the other side Torako had swiped a chair and was sitting down losing a battle with a Rubik's cube.

"I don't know," Asagi said, "it beats having to run around in a frenzy, don't you think?" She looked at Oikawa, then Torako. "And hey, we get to wear these instead of our uniforms today."

"Yeah, I guess that's true," Oikawa said with a half-shrug. She _had_ been looking forward to seeing what sort of yukata her friends would be wearing. Asagi's yellow yukata with green and blue floral designs couldn't have been more appropriate, and Torako's was exactly what she'd been expecting: dark blue, with simple geometric patterns. The sort of thing someone three times her age would wear. Her sister had helped her pick out her own, green with gold leaves and dragonflies, and everyone agreed that she wore it well.

Torako grumbled under her breath and glared at the cube in her hands. "This thing's pissin' me off."

Asagi laughed. "Having trouble?"

Torako turned one side, then another. "I've never done one of these before. My mom said they were fun." She turned another side halfway, but apparently thought better of it and moved it back. "She must be a masochist."

"I think anyone living in your house would _have_ to be, at least a little," Oikawa said. "No offense, I mean."

Torako shrugged and set the cube down on the counter. "No problem, I know my family's crazy." She looked at the door and stood up. "Look alive."

Asagi and Oikawa got up from where they were leaning and turned to look at the person who'd just walked into the room. "Ah, Rei!" Oikawa said happily. "You came!"

Rei Oikawa walked up to them and shrugged. "Well, I've got a couple hours before my next class, I figured I may as well kill some time." She looked around the room. "Quite an operation you guys have here."

Oikawa laughed self-consciously. "Yeah, our class is a little . . . apathetic."

Rei nodded before turning to Torako. "So what've you got?"

Torako gestured at the plastic two-liter bottles arranged by the wall. "We've got orange, red, yellow, green, blue, and purple."

Rei looked at the bottles. "Which is the least likely to make me want to punch you in the face for serving it to me?"

"The red," Asagi said.

Rei nodded. "I'll take that then." As Torako poured her a cup she looked at her, then at Asagi. "Yuko, you need shorter friends. I feel like an Ewok."

"My heart weeps for you," Oikawa deadpanned.

Rei handed Torako almost three times what the juice cost. "Keep the change," she said. "You guys could use it, from the looks of things."

"Thanks," Torako said as she took the money.

Rei noticed the Rubik's cube on the counter and put down her juice. "This yours?"

Torako nodded. "Yeah."

Rei picked it up. "Check this out," she said.

"Rei, don't," Oikawa pleaded, but her sister ignored her. Rei's hands began to move, twisting and turning the sides of the cube before she stopped and held it out in the palm of her hand.

"Da-naah! Finished in under thirty seconds."

Torako and Asagi stared in amazement at the cube. All the sides matched. "How'd you do that?" Torako finally asked.

Rei shrugged and began changing the cube so the sides no longer matched. "Years of practice. That's nothing though, I know a guy who can do it faster while _blindfolded._"

Oikawa plucked the cube away and put it back down on the counter. "Showoff." Rei just shrugged and sipped her juice.

"That was really cool," Torako said as she picked up the cube.

Rei drained the cup and crushed it in her hand. "Well, I'm gonna see if I can't find something to eat around here. I'll see you later."

Oikawa nodded. "See ya."

"I'd thank you for the juice, but . . . yeah."

Torako and Asagi waved as she left. Soon after she was gone they were all leaning against the counter or sitting down again, bored once more. "This cafe sucks," Torako said.

* * *

**-Author Notes-**

Have you ever seen videos of those guys who can solve Rubik's cubes in like five seconds? That shit is _crazy._ I've never seen anyone do it blindfolded but I have seen a guy do it with his hands behind his back. _Crazy._

Me? The only way I've ever solved one is by using the Mama Takino Method. I lack patience and discipline apparently. Or am I just an _outside-the-box thinker?_

I'm gonna be honest, I have no idea how Serious Business Japanese PE classes are, but I found it amusing that I could be the worst athlete in my class and still pass with a B so I put that in there. Because I'm wacky like that. Apparently.

Torako and Asagi are clearly talking about the version of Kusanagi portrayed in the _Ghost in the Shell_ movie, since _Stand Alone Complex_ hasn't aired yet when this is set. Oh and yeah, Oikawa _did_ make a _Willow_ reference there. Ya wanna make somethin' of it?


	20. Boom Headshot

_Kyeerk, kyeerk, kyeerk . . ._

Torako hunched her shoulders and gritted her teeth.

_Kyeerk, kyeerk, kyeerk . . ._

She concentrated on her book, trying her best to ignore it.

_Kyeerk, kyeerk, kyeerk . . ._

Finally she couldn't take it anymore. "Will you just screw that thing in already?!"

Tomo stopped changing the lightbulb in the lamp on the end table next to the couch and looked at her. "What, does this sound annoy you?"

"You _know_ it does," Torako said.

Tomo snickered and began twisting the bulb back and forth rapidly. _Kyeerkyeerkyeerkyeerkyeerk!_

"Stop it!" Torako snapped and flung a cushion at her. She missed, and as Tomo dove back out of the way it hit the lamp and knocked it to the floor with a shattering crash. As their mother shouted from upstairs and Torako winced Tomo began to laugh.

"You broke it, you broke it! You brooooooke it! Torako broke the lamp!"

"Will you shut up?!" Torako hissed as they heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

Tomo just laughed louder and began swinging her arms. "You're gonna get in trooouble! Yoooooou're gonna get in trooo-OWWWW!!" Tomo's taunting turned to cries of pain as she failed to notice that she'd been dancing directly into the scattered wreckage of their former lamp.

"You idiot, watch where you put your feet!" Torako grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away from the broken glass on the floor.

"What the _hell_ is going on down here?" their mother asked as she came storming into the living room. "I was _just_ about to fall asleep!"

"Tomo stepped on broken glass," Torako said as she sat her crying sister down on the couch. She looked around before grabbing a magazine off the coffee table and putting it under her bleeding foot.

Nao sighed and hurried over. "Get the first aid kit, would you?"

Torako nodded and stood. As their mother took her place kneeling in front of Tomo, she took two steps towards the bathroom before she felt a sudden pain stab into the sole of her foot. "AAAAOOOWW!!"

"Oh, come _on!_" Nao yelled as she turned to see Torako hopping back on one foot and trailing blood from the other. "Don't either of you ever _look where you're going?!_" With an exasperated sigh she got up, headed for the bathroom, and promptly stepped on a piece of broken glass. "Son of a _bitch!_"

--

"You all stepped on broken glass?" Oikawa asked. Torako nodded, and Asagi agreed that yes, Torako, Tomo, and their mother had stepped all on broken glass. They were in her bedroom; not long after the incident Asagi had called, and upon hearing the news she immediately called Oikawa and demanded that they pay a visit, apparently to cheer her up. Oikawa had remarked that Asagi could probably do a better job of that if she weren't there, to which she simply replied that the two of them would only be _arriving_ together.

"So I suppose that means you'll be getting out of PE on Monday," Asagi said, her voice laced with envy.

Torako shrugged. "We're gonna try to get notes from our doctor."

"Kusanagi would accept a note from your parents, wouldn't she?"

Torako shrugged and looked down the length of her body at her bandaged right foot. "I'd _think_ so, but she can be a real bitch sometimes."

"Tell me about it," Asagi grumbled. She leaned back and propped herself up on her arms, coming dangerously close to laying across Torako's stomach. "I almost wouldn't be surprised if she made you run laps just to make you suffer."

"Hey Torako, you've seen _Akira,_ right?" Oikawa asked.

Torako nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"Y'know the scene where Tetsuo has that dream about the toys?" There was an impish gleam in Oikawa's eye.

"What about it?" It had been a while since she'd seen it.

"The part where he steps on the glass-"

"Oh _god_ shut up," Torako interrupted.

Oikawa was grinning now as she leaned forward in the desk chair. "And then he pulls that chunk out but it kinda sticks and-"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa shut up stop talking!" Torako wailed as she pressed her hands over her ears and squeezed her eyes shut. The damage had already been done though, and all she could think about was that scene, playing over and over again in her mind. The skin pulling out as the glass stuck in the foot, blood splashing out as it finally pulled free with a hideous _splatch._ Her toes clenched involuntarily, but that just made her foot hurt even worse.

Asagi just watched them both. She'd never seen _Akira._

Oikawa giggled. "Sorry, I just couldn't resist."

"You're evil, you know that?" Asagi said.

"I'll get you for that someday," Torako threatened.

"Oh yeah, how?" Oikawa asked defiantly.

"I'll lock you in a room with my sister."

Asagi laughed. "Tora-chan, you _sadist!_"

"I'll never do it again, I swear," Oikawa said quickly.

Torako nodded, apparently satisfied.

Oikawa yawned and glanced at the alarm clock by the bed. "Well," she said with a stretch, "I'd probably better get home. My parents get pissed if I stay out too late."

Torako and Asagi both started to get up from the bed, but she waved them back down as she stood. "Oh no, I can see myself out," she said with a glance at Asagi.

As soon as they heard the front door close and watched Oikawa head out the gate and down the street Asagi turned on Torako with a familiar look in her eye. "Tora-chaaaaaan," she leered.

"What," Torako said, though she knew exactly what was on her mind.

Asagi got onto her hands and knees on the bed. "We're all aloooooooone," she said in what was apparently supposed to be a seductive voice.

Torako crawled back away from Asagi, knocking over the pillows she'd been using to prop herself up. "My sister tends to barge in," she protested as Asagi began to crawl towards her.

"I'll lock the door," Asagi said with a shrug.

"Asagi, I don't think-"

"Oh, but I _do!_" Asagi interrupted her and pounced, knocking her down onto the bed.

--

Tomo yawned and slapped her leg up and down on her bed. She was bored, and she didn't really feel like watching TV. With a tired grumbling sound she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and got to her feet. See what Torako was up to. _Ow, ow, ow, OW._ Dammit, her foot hurt like hell.

She limped out into the hall and was just reaching for Torako's doorknob when she heard the lock click from the other side. "Eh?" She made a questioning sound under her breath.

"C'mere, Tora-chaaaan!" Asagi's voice.

Tomo stood outside for a moment, wondering what she should do. She considered pounding on the door and shouting for them to stop whatever they were doing, but that would just wake up mom and dad and get _her_ in trouble too. Finally she just shook her head and turned to limp back to her room, muttering "Perverts" under her breath. She paused then, and an insidious grin began to spread across her face as an idea formed in her mind.

--

Asagi sighed quietly. "You know I like what you've got but sometimes I do wish you had a bit more going on," she said. "There's not really much to hold onto here."

Torako propped herself up on her elbows and cast an annoyed glance at the point where Asagi's arm disappeared from sight underneath her shirt. "Well I'm sorry," she said a little defensively.

Asagi pulled her arm out and rolled onto her back beside her. "It's no big deal, I don't mind."

"Then why'd you bring it up?" Torako asked as she fought the compulsion to cross her arms over her chest.

Asagi put her hands under her head and shrugged. "So . . . can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Promise not to take it the wrong way?"

Torako turned her head to look at her. "Saying that just makes people paranoid."

Asagi ignored that. "So when do you think you'll be ready to go further?"

Torako shrugged. "I don't know." She looked up at the ceiling. "Is that a problem?"

Asagi shook her head. "No, I was just wondering, I guess."

"Right." Torako almost told her she was being pretty inconsistent in her "pushy seme" act if she was going to wait until she said she was ready to take things further instead of just diving in, but she wasn't quite sure she wanted that to happen anyway. Not right now, at least. _What the hell is wrong with me that I'd _want_ that to happen?_ she wondered to herself, and had to snicker softly.

"What?" Asagi asked.

"Oh, nothing."

"Hey!" They both turned their heads to see Tomo standing outside the window, holding a camera and looking annoyed. She slid the window open. "You're supposed to be doing something embarassing!"

Torako opened her mouth to shout at her when Asagi turned to face her with an evil grin. She shook her head and tried to scootch away, but her arm went off the edge of the bed as Asagi got up on her hands and knees. "C'meeeeeeere, Tora-chaaaaaaaaaaan" she sing-songed in that impish voice of hers.

"You're both perverts!" Torako wailed as Asagi lunged and sent them both rolling off the bed and onto the floor.

--

On the serengeti, Torako would have been picked off before she got a block from her house on Monday morning. Most likely not by her namesake, since there were no tigers in Africa (barring the odd captive specimen in a zoo or a warlord's private menagerie, which would not be roaming the serengeti anyway), but possibly by a lion or a leopard. Fortunately for Torako she was in Japan, not Africa, and all she was to deal with was a long, painful walk to school. It was almost with an audible sigh of relief that she dropped into her seat at her desk and took her weight off her injured foot.

"You hurt?"

Torako turned to look at Ohzawa sitting behind her, looking curious._ You're here awful early,_ she thought, before realizing that her foot must have slowed her down some. "Yeah," she said and nodded. "Cut my foot."

Ohzawa leaned to the side a little to look at Torako's feet. "Bad?" she asked.

Torako yawned and shook her head. "No, just hurts." It was funny, how their interaction had changed in the two-and-a-half months since their fight. Though things had started out awkward and perfunctory they had gradually grown accustomed to each other. Torako knew they could never be friends (not that she thought she'd really want to anyway), but she was glad that they were at least now capable of being halfway civil to each other. Simmering hostilities, even when held in check by a mutual cease-fire agreement, tended to get old.

Ohzawa looked like she was about to say something else, but she clammed up when she saw Asagi coming. "Heeeey, Tora-chan!" Asagi said, her voice cheerful despite her bloodshot eyes. "How's the foot?" she asked as she sat down on her desk. She completely ignored Ohzawa.

"Guess," Torako said and suppressed a yawn.

"I had a dream about you last night, by the way," Asagi said, completely changing the subject.

"Oh yeah?" _Please don't be inappropriate, please don't be inappropriate . . ._

She nodded. "Yep! You had this pet robot, but it was just a creepy giant floating buddha's head. It was the size of a car and the jaw was torn off. Oh, and it was totally hollow inside."

Torako blinked at her. Why was it that everyone seemed to have these weird sorts of dreams but her? Did she just forget hers right away? "That sounds . . . um . . ."

"I think it wanted to kill me," Asagi continued. "You were planning on taking over the world with it or something." She thought for a moment as she tried to remember more of the dream. "I think you were wearing samurai armor, too."

"I'm not sure I want to speculate on what that says about your subconscious opinion of me," Torako said.

"So am I ever in _your _dreams?" Asagi asked with a smile.

Torako fixed her eyes on her desk. "Er . . . I don't really remember most of my dreams, so I couldn't say."

"Eh?" Asagi bent down to study her face before she started laughing. "So that's how it is, is it?" Judging by her tone she knew full well that Torako was lying, and also knew exactly why. "That's a shame."

Torako was silently thanked the bell for ringing then, and Asagi patted her shoulder and snickered as she went to her own desk.

"What was that about?" Ohzawa asked her.

Torako turned halfway in her seat. "Oh . . . nothing." As she turned back she saw Oikawa hurry in the door, looking flustered. She was just sitting down when the door slid open again and Okabe's bag came flying into the room, landing with a loud _smack_ behind the desk and podium.

--

"Yoooou were laaaaate," Asagi teased as she untucked her shirt.

"I overslept," Oikawa said defensively. "Rei got a new video game and she made me stay up to play it with her."

Asagi turned to where Torako was opening her locker and starting to change. "You see, Tora-chan? That's how sisters should be, doing fun things like playing video games together."

"I'm no good at video games," Torako said as she unbuckled her belt and unbuttoned her skirt. "Besides, Tomo flails her controller around and throws it if she loses."

"Why are you changing, anyway? Didn't you have a note?"

Torako sighed and pulled up her bloomers up under her skirt before letting it drop to the floor. "Yeah, but Kusanagi wants me to at least _change_ for PE, even if I'm not participating."

"She must like 'em thin," Asagi muttered, and Oikawa suppressed a giggle.

"Oh shut up," Torako hissed, but turned her back on their teacher before pulling her shirt over her head anyway.

--

Torako watched from the bleachers and wondered how long she'd be able to milk this injury. They were into the volleyball unit, and she absolutely hated volleyball. Her skinny arms had only a thin layer of muscle and no layer of fat to protect them from impact, so every time she hit the ball it felt like it was made of granite.

She yawned and shifted uncomfortably. On the other hand, the metal of the bleachers was cold on her bare legs. She wished they could wear shorts like the guys, and almost looked forward to the colder months when they'd be allowed to wear sweatpants. As it was, she felt like she may as well be going to PE in her underwear.

"Incoming!"

"Huh?" Torako opened her eyes from her yawn just in time to see a big white object rushing at her. _SPANG!_ "Sunuvabitch!" she swore as the volleyball collided with her forehead and ricocheted straight up as her head snapped back. She brought her head back up as the ball plopped into her lap.

Asagi reached the bleachers first, laughing so hard that she had to sit down.

"Was that you?" Torako asked down at her as she rubbed her head. She looked up at several other students, all laughing as they approached.

Asagi shook her head. "No . . . no, that was Fukuda."

Torako picked Fukuda out of the approaching group and launched the ball at her. She caught it and grinned sheepishly. "Ah, sorry about that, Takino."

She acknowledged the apology with a nod and a wave and looked at Asagi. "You can stop laughing now," she said.

"But you looked so funny," Asagi gasped. "Fwaah!" She snapped her head back. "Foof!" She leaned forward as if catching something in her lap.

Finally Kusanagi shouted from her place on the other side of the court. "Ayase! Back on the line!"

Asagi nodded and, still giggling, trotted out to rejoin her team. Torako watched her go and rubbed her forehead. That had really hurt. _Wait a minute,_ she thought. _How do you get that kind of distance and speed in _volleyball? _I haven't done anything to piss Fukuda off, have I?_ After watching the game in progress for a few minutes she concluded that no, Fukuda was just phenomenally bad at the game.

--

"See ya," Asagi called with a wave as she and Torako split up at their dividing point on the way home. "I might call later."

Torako waved back, but didn't say anything, instead trying to concentrate on walking with as little limp as possible. She liked to think she was doing pretty well; at least it didn't hurt nearly as bad as that time in middle school when she'd jumped down off the bleachers and landed flat-footed. Like an idiot she'd been too proud to admit to doing something so monumentally stupid, and spent the next two weeks walking it off in excrutiating pain. Looking back on it, she was probably lucky she hadn't broken her ankles.

_And at least no glass broke off inside my foot,_ she thought, though her imagination immediately made her wish she hadn't. She immediately groped in her mind for something else to focus on, and came up with the dreams she'd had that Saturday night after Asagi had gone home. _No, too dirty! Pervert!_

* * *

**-Author Notes-**

I'm really sort of regretting deciding to do this thing about their entire three years of high school. Fortunately I'll be trying to get to the next actual story arc within the next couple chapters (whenever those may be), so I won't have to keep writing boring filler episodes for long. (And you, by extension, won't have to keep reading them. Until the next "between arcs" period anyway.)

I kinda want to mention some things about what I've got planned in the future, but I won't. Spoilers, and all. (Also because that would imply that I think I've got a horde of ravening fans demanding to know what happens next, an idea that I find hilariously implausible.) Just suffice to say that I'm sure you'll love it. Or hate it. Or be kinda "meh" about it.

You will form some sort of an opinion of it. I mean, maybe. You might. God dammit I am way too tired to be doing this shit right now.


	21. One Day Closer to Death

**SEVERAL YEARS PREVIOUS**

There was a loud _smack_ and the girl staggered back several steps before tripping over a crack in the sidewalk and falling on her ass. She put a hand to the side of her face and glared up at the person who'd just punched her. "I'm gonna make you regret that, Takino."

Torako said nothing, just took a step forward. Behind her Misao looked like she couldn't decide whether to cheer her friend on or take off running. "Get out of here, Sasaki," she finally said. Torako's voice was already naturally low and quiet, and she'd quickly found that she could make herself sound very intimidating if she wanted to.

Sasaki growled in her throat as she picked herself up, but when Torako didn't back down she reluctantly turned and went back the way she'd come. "This isn't over," she called over her shoulder.

When Torako was satisfied that she wasn't coming back she turned and gestured with her head. "C'mon, let's go."

"What was that about?" Misao asked as they got moving again.

Torako waited until she'd lit a fresh cigarette before responding. She looked up at the sky and sighed as she exhaled a stream of smoke. "Oh, _Tomo._ She caught a toad on the way to school this morning and thought it'd be funny to put it in Sasaki's desk as a birthday present." She shook her head and looked at the cigarette in her hand. "Idiot."

Misao rolled her eyes. "Is she _trying_ to get beaten up?" Yomiko Sasaki wasn't one of the nastiest delinquents in the school, but she wasn't exactly known for her pleasant and forgiving attitude either.

"Putting the toad in her desk was bad enough, but then when Sasaki saw it and screamed she got up and shouted 'Happy birthday!'"

Misao shook her head. "What a _dumbass._"

"Tell me about it," Torako said and took a drag.

"Maybe you should just let her get her ass kicked one of these times," Misao suggested, only half-jokingly. So far, Sasaki was the fourth would-be attacker that Torako had sent on their way in the three months since she'd clubbed Shirow with her schoolbag, and she'd put up a lot less of a fight than the last one.

Torako shook her head firmly. "No, I can't do that."

"Well she'd have it coming," Misao said. "And it might get her to stop being such an idiot."

Torako glared down at her. "I'm not going to let somebody beat up my sister, Misao."

"Oh, I suppose only you and Yomi-chan are allowed to do that?" Misao asked sarcastically.

"Pretty much," Torako said, an edge creeping into her voice.

"Fine, fine," Misao said placatingly. Unlike Tomo, she knew when to back off.

Torako looked ahead and forced herself to calm down. Of course she couldn't expect an only child like Misao to understand.

Misao looked up at the cloudless sky. "Ugh, two months till summer vacation . . ."

Torako nodded. "Mm." They walked the rest of the way in silence, until they reached the point where their paths diverged and they went their separate ways.

--

Torako sighed and flopped sideways onto her bed. _Ah, quiet._ Tomo had gone to Yomi's after school and both their parents were at their respective jobs, so she had the house to herself for the time being. She stretched her arms and put her hands behind her head and closed her eyes. _Quiet . . ._ She yawned and stretched her legs.

--

**PRESENT DAY**

"WAKE UP, TORA-CHAN!!"

If Tomo's shout hadn't woken Torako up, the impact as she jumped into her bed would have. Tomo landed right on top of her back, with her knee driving straight into her coccyx. "D'gaaaaooowww!!"

As Torako writhed and whimpered in pain Tomo grabbed her shoulders and began shaking her. "It's our birthday, it's our birthday! We're sixteen now!"

Torako growled and rolled over, shoving Tomo off her bed and onto the floor. "Get off me!" She sat up with a groan, putting her hand on her ass. She checked the clock; it wasn't even noon yet. Hadn't she specifically told her sister not to wake her up before noon on the weekends?

Tomo had already gotten up and grabbed her by the arm. "C'mon Tora-chan, presents! _Presents! And money!_" Torako sighed and let Tomo drag her roughly to her feet and out into the hall. She always got so worked up about their birthday. What exactly did she expect, to go bounding down the stairs to find the living room piled high with gifts like in some western Christmas movie?

THUMP THUMP THA-THUMP THUMP THUMP. Torako followed after at her own pace, digging a chunk of sleep-crust out of the corner of her eye.

"Morning, birthday girls," their father said from the couch without taking his eyes off the TV. Late morning sunlight slanted through a hazy cloud of cigarette smoke. "One year closer to the crushing disappointment that is adulthood, aren't you excited?"

Torako made a tired grunting sound and plopped down at the other end of the couch. She let her head flop back as she yawned.

"Don't get too comfortable," Sato said, "you two have gotta get washed up and dressed. I'm taking you out to eat."

Tomo whooped and grabbed Torako's arm. "Come on Tora-chan, let's get ready!"

Torako sighed and let herself be dragged toward the bathroom. She didn't particularly feel like taking a bath with her sister this morning (or any other morning lately, or any evening, or any other time of day), but she was too tired and her ass was still too sore for her to put up much of a fight. Why was she so excited about going to eat somewhere anyway? It wasn't as though that was an especially rare occurence.

--

"So have you and Asagi done the deed yet?"

Torako sighed and rolled her eyes as she washed her hair. "Not that it's any of your business, but no."

Tomo leaned against the edge of the tub and rested her chin on her crossed forearms. "Really? But you two have been a thing since like July. That's . . ." She counted on her fingers. "Four months!"

Torako shrugged. "Well, it's complicated. And besides, that's a pretty big step, you know?"

Tomo shrugged and looked off to the side. "I guess."

Torako reached up and grabbed the shower nozzle from its hook. "Why are you so interested anyway?" she asked. "That's a pretty weird thing to be asking one's sister, isn't it?" Of course, this _was_ Tomo she was talking to. The girl who had recently discovered that a great way to get a reaction out of her sister was to walk around the house wearing that damn strap-on of hers over her pants when both of their parents were out.

Tomo let one arm hang down and tried to see if she could reach the floor. "No real reason," she said noncommitally. "Just wondering, I guess."

Torako turned the nozzle and began rinsing her hair.

"So how far _have_ you two gone then?" Tomo asked.

"None of your business," Torako said in a _Do not continue this line of questioning_ tone.

"Has she touched your boobs?"

"Shut up. Shut up right now."

Tomo laughed. "Hah, she has! Have you touched hers? Are they nice and soft?"

Torako switched the spray nozzle to the concentrated jets and turned it on her.

--

"Our school's culture festival's coming up this week," Tomo said as they ate.

"Mmm," their father said before he finished chewing and swallowed. "What's your class doing?"

"A stuffed animal exhibition."

"Who suggested _that?_" Torako asked. That sounded even dumber than her class's yukata cafe.

Tomo shrugged. "Sakaki, I think. You remember her, right?"

Torako thought for a moment. "You mean the one who came after you because you put a live toad in her desk on her birthday and I had to kick her ass?"

"Wait a minute, what'd you do?" Sato asked.

Tomo sighed. "No you idiot, that was _Sasaki._ Sakaki was the giant girl in class two that everybody thought was a badass. The one with the huge tits."

Torako and Sato both rolled their eyes. What was it with her and breasts, anyway?

"Oh yeah, her." Torako nodded. She'd never really talked to Sakaki in middle school; neither had anyone else for that matter. At least not really enough to hold a conversation. On the few times they _had_ run into each other Torako had gotten the distinct impression that Sakaki had been intimidated by her.

"Anyway she's in my class," Tomo explained and poked at her food. "And she's all obsessed with cute things, apparently."

Torako nodded absently and took a bite of her sandwich. Was she supposed to find that interesting? Because she didn't.

"By the way," Sato said, "neither of you looked out in the back yard before we left, did you?"

"No, why," Torako asked suspiciously.

"Because there's a birthday present back there, stupid," Tomo said.

"You looked!" Sato accused her.

Tomo shrugged. "No, I just assumed."

"Don't assume things," Torako told her.

"Well it's true, isn't it?"

Sato sighed. "At this point in time I can neither confirm or deny the presence of what may or may not have been a birthday gift in the back yard. I may have been referring to something else. Like maybe a homeless guy died back there, or the tool shed burned down."

"So who's it for?" Tomo asked.

"Shut up or I'll kill you," Sato said.

Torako just ate quietly.

"So are we getting any money?" Tomo asked then.

"Holy _crap,_ what is with you?" Sato asked. "Torako and I should have left you at home."

"I'd just follow after you on her new bike."

Torako stopped chewing for a moment and looked up at her, then at their father. He looked at Tomo, then at Torako, then back at Tomo. "Dammit, you _did_ look!"

"Well _duh,_" Tomo said, "you left it _sitting in the yard._"

Sato shook his head. "Sorry Torako, it was supposed to be a surprise."

Torako swallowed and shrugged. "That's okay, I did _ask_ for a bike, after all."

Sato nodded. "True, if we really wanted to surprise you we should've gotten you a big stack of plastic patio chairs."

"Enough about that," Tomo butted in, "what'd you get _me?_"

"A box of staples," Sato said.

Tomo looked at him, a silly grin fixed across her face. "What?"

"You heard me."

Still grinning. " . . . You're lying."

"Nope," Sato said as he took a sip of his coffee. "We got you some staples. You'll get the stapler for Christmas."

"What the _hell _kind of a half-assed birthday present is friggin' _office supplies?!_" Tomo demanded to know at a volume that was entirely unreasonable for their surroundings. Sato and Torako shrank down into their seats as the diner's other patrons turned to look at their booth.

"Do you _have_ to be so _loud,_" Sato muttered.

"He's just pulling your leg, you moron," Torako said quietly.

Tomo closed her eyes and lowered her clenched fists. " . . . I knew that."

"Sure you did," Torako said and picked up her own coffee.

"Shut up!" Tomo snapped. "I was just playing along for you guys' benefit!"

Torako tried not to smile. "Uh huh. Whatever you say."

Sato hooked a finger in his cheek and then pantomimed reeling in a fish.

"Leave me alone!" Tomo whined. "Stop making fun of me!"

--

Torako and Tomo were both wrestling with the cellophane wrappings on the CDs that Yomi had brought them when the door to Tomo's bedroom was flung open. "Everybody freeze!"

They all looked up to see Asagi and Oikawa standing in the doorway. "Hey," Torako said, and Tomo and Yomi waved.

Asagi held up the two bags she carried as they entered the room. "Happy birthday!" Oikawa echoed the sentiment in a more subdued tone.

"You got me something!" Tomo exclaimed with undisguised greed and snatched one of the bags as it was presented to her.

Asagi shrugged as she handed the other to Torako as she sat down against the TV stand. "Well, I figured it'd be rude to only bring something for one of you, so."

"Since when has being rude ever stopped you from doing anything?" Torako asked as she accepted another bag from Oikawa before opening either of them.

"I think you're starting to rub off on me," Asagi said with a glare.

"Awesome, a hat!" Tomo said loudly, holding up a white cap with a red cross on the front.

Asagi nodded, looking a little sheepish. "Yeah, I don't really know what you like, so . . ."

Tomo tried the hat on, took it off and adjusted it, and put it back on. "I like it."

"I didn't get you anything," Oikawa said. "Sorry."

"Look at yours, dammit," Asagi said.

"I was just about to," Torako said and reached into her bag. She pulled out a dark gray faux-military jacket and unfolded it. "Hey, a jacket."

"Try it on, I wanna see if it fits."

"Ooh, sexy," Tomo said when Torako had put it on.

"You shouldn't be the one saying that," Yomi told her.

"I like it, thanks," Torako said as she picked up Oikawa's bag.

"I figured since you like photography," Oikawa explained as Torako took out a book on how to take better pictures.

Torako nodded and flipped through it. "Yeah, I could really use this, thanks."

"Tora-chan, Tora-chan," Tomo said and leaned back to open the door to her closet. She got out a red plastic bag and handed it to her. "Open mine now."

Torako took the bag and pulled out a DVD. "_Lolita Confinement Lesbian,_" she read on the front. She glared at her twin out of the corner of her eye as Asagi began to laugh and Yomi and Oikawa rolled their eyes.

Tomo leaned forward to explain. "See, I got it because I thought it was relevant-"

"_I get it,_" Torako interrupted her.

* * *

**-Author Notes-**

The "flashback" and "present day" parts were originally going to be two separate chapters, but then I sorta realized I couldn't pad either of 'em out to a decent length, so they were combined. I'm not really sure they tie together all that well, but I kinda like the transition between the two. I'm a little tempted now to just start peppering random future chapters with completely unrelated flashbacks where Torako kicks somebody's ass, because hey, who doesn't love a little gratuitous unnecessary violence every now and then?

Also in this chapter we learn the shocking origin of the hat that Tomo wears to Okinawa! Because I just basically pulled something out of the air. Hey, whaddaya want from me, _effort?_

I have not seen _Lolita Confinement Lesbian_, and judging from the review on Outpost Nine, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to.

Well, okay, I'm lying. It sounds pretty hilarious, is an absolutely absurd "What the fuck is going on" kind of way. If you don't know what the hell I'm talking about, go to Outpost Nine and look up the editorial "The Worst Porn Ever." Don't worry, the actual article is worksafe.

And finally, for those not learned in skeletal anatomy (shame on you) the coccyx is the tailbone, where the pelvis meets the spine. The "buttbone," if you will. When I was a kid a common thing was to go up behind someone, yell "Buttbreaker!" and slam your knee up into their coccyx as hard as you could. It hurt. A _lot._


	22. All is Quiet on New Year's Day

Cold. Cold. Cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, _cold, cold, cold cold, COLD COLD COLD __**COLD COLD COLD COLDCOLDCOLDCOLDCOLDCOLDCOLDCOLD!!**_

That was just about the only thing running through Torako's mind as she walked to school. She didn't remember it being this cold yesterday. Hadn't there been leaves on the trees and grass on the ground yesterday? The trees were bare now, and everything around her looked dead.

Her teeth chattered as she walked. Why did they have to wear these stupid skirts? She wondered if she could get away with wearing thermal underwear underneath. She'd look like a total idiot, though. _Well, at least it's not windy,_ she thought.

Torako rounded a corner and slowed to a stop. "Well that's new," she muttered to herself.

Birds. Thousands of them, millions, from tiny passerines to giant condors she'd only seen in books and on TV. They were circling, wheeling above an intersection a few blocks down in a vertical column that stretched up as far as she could see. As soon as she saw them she could hear the cacophonous din as they called, squawked, cawed, and sang.

As she approached the column of birds she saw someone ahead of her, standing and watching, and realized this was the first person she could remember seeing today. As she got closer she recognized them and called out: "Hey, Oikawa!"

Oikawa turned and looked at her. "Oh, Torako," she called back. "Isn't this amazing?"

Torako looked up at the birds as she stopped beside her friend. "What're they all doing?"

Oikawa shrugged. "Beats me."

Torako looked around. "And where's everybody else? This whole place is dead, it feels like."

Oikawa shrugged again. "Did you know a lot of scientists think that birds are descended from dinosaurs?"

"Yeah, that's great. Have you seen anyone else around here?"

Oikawa shook her head. "Not really."

Torako fished out her phone and looked up Asagi's number in the contacts. "Come on, come on . . ."

Ringing. Ringing. Ringing. After three solid minutes she gave up and tried Tomo's number. There was no answer there either, or at Yomi's number. Finally she tried both her parents; no luck. Shit.

"I don't like this," she said as she looked at her phone.

Oikawa was watching the birds. "Maybe there's someone at school?"

Torako shrugged. "Worth a shot, I guess."

With one last look at the cloud of birds they started walking. Within a few blocks they came to a large, densely wooded park and crossed a river. Neither of them really seemed to notice that neither the park nor the river had been there the day before. As they left the park Torako heard a noise above and behind them and turned to see the birds following behind. As she and Oikawa watched they passed overhead, flying in the direction of the school. They heard a new sound then; almost like great slabs of stone being dragged across one another. As they drew nearer they could hear words in the sound, but they weren't in Japanese as far as they could tell.

The school was floating.

"What the hell?" Torako asked no one in particular as she and Oikawa came to a stop. Their high school's main building hung in the air about twenty feet off the ground, slowly spinning in place. The birds were now circling above it.

"Well this is certainly odd," Oikawa said.

Torako rubbed her forehead and turned to the side. "So I suppose this means no school today," she muttered. When she lowered her hand there was someone standing in the street.

Torako raised a hand to wave, but stopped herself. No, it wasn't someone. Some_thing._ Even from four blocks away she could see that whatever was standing there staring at them couldn't be human. It seemed to be made of filthy rags, though there was definitely some sort of humanoid body underneath. It made no movements, no noise, but Torako could feel an almost tangible air of danger and malevolence about this thing. She was suddenly very afraid.

She reached back and touched Oikawa's arm. "Oikawa . . . we should get out of here."

Had Oikawa noticed it? She wasn't sure. She hurried away from the thing, trying to walk as quickly as possible without leaving her behind. After going a half a block she risked a glance over her shoulder. The thing hadn't moved, but there were two of them now. After another block she looked back again, and there were three. _What the hell were they?_

As she watched they moved. One by one the things seemed to collapse, dropping into formless piles on the cold pavement of the street. Then they began to _flow,_ sliding after them faster than anything had any right to move.

"Oh shit, _RUN!_" Torako grabbed Oikawa's wrist and bolted. She didn't dare look back. She could _hear_ the things behind them, a malignant, oily sound like a recording of chattering teeth being played underwater. She didn't know how far they'd gotten before she heard Oikawa scream and her hand was suddenly empty.

Torako skidded to a stop and spun around, ready to fight for her friend, but Oikawa was gone. Standing before her were the three _things,_ upright once more. They looked for all the world like tattered dark brown rags, drapped over an inner core of pitch-black nothingness.

She waited for them to attack, but they only stood watching her. "Give her back!" she finally managed to say.

The center thing cocked what must have been its head, and something launched from its torso, knocking Torako off her feet. As she landed and heard the clattering she realized that it had become multiple somethings when it hit her. She was surrounded by bones, still warm and bloody and partially held together by ligaments. Human bones. She looked around her in shock and saw Oikawa's glasses among the gruesome remains.

Torako wasn't sure how she'd gotten to her feet so fast, but she was running again. She no longer felt the cold, no longer heard the screaming of the birds that now filled the entire sky and blotted out the sun, no longer heard the thunderous groan of that stone voice. All she heard was her feet hitting the pavement, her ragged breathing, and that horrible chattering laughter behind her.

She saw her house coming up. Somehow she knew that if she could just make it inside, she would be safe. Whatever these things were, they wouldn't be able to get her in there.

Something heavy and deathly cold slammed into her back.

"Wake up, Tora-chan!"

Torako's eyes opened and she was staring at the wall by her bed. She sat up, shook her head, and looked over at her sister. "C'mon, we gotta get ready to hit the shrine," Tomo said impatiently.

Torako scowled at her as she put her feet on the floor. "I _did_ set my alarm, you know," she said irritably. As if to prove her point, it started going off.

"So did you have a New Year's dream?" Tomo asked as Torako shut off the alarm and stood up.

"I don't wanna talk about it," she said.

Tomo laughed and followed her out into the hall. "Ha, it was bad, wasn't it?"

"They don't mean anything anyway," Torako said. "Though actually there _were _a few hawks . . ." Well, she assumed, anyway. There _had_ to have been some hawks in that swarm, right?

"Mine was awesome," Tomo bragged as they started downstairs. "I kicked everybody's _asses._"

"Even mine?" Torako asked.

"Oh, you weren't in it," Tomo said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"Gee, _thanks._"

* * *

**-Author Notes-**

Yeah I just added a short chapter. Ya wanna make somethin' of it?

Didn't think so.

I don't write a lot of horror, so I don't know if I succeeded in making Torako's New Year's dream as creepy as it played out in my head. It didn't really help that I had to account for dream logic, where you only realize how completely messed up a situation is _after_ you've woken up, as opposed to when you're still in the dream and don't really notice how weird it is. So I couldn't really use anyone's reactions to anything to get across the idea of just how creepy everything about the world in her dream was. Watch this space for possible future revisions, if I ever feel like trying to improve it.

Now you may be saying, "But guy whose name I don't know, that can't be right! I saw the episode where Tomo defeated everybody at everything in her dream, and Torako sure as shit wasn't at the shrine the next day!" Well, you're correct. _However!_ While this story may use certain elements from the anime, it more closely follows the manga, and in _that_ nobody was shown going to any shrines on the New Year's Day after the dreams at all. So it's pretty much up in the air as to _what_ they did. Tomo could have spent that day doing lines of coke off a stripper's ass, for all we know. Or off Yomi's ass. Or Torako's ass. Or her _own_ ass, if she's flexible enough. _Point is,_ I am wearing a hat.


	23. Where is the Line With You

It didn't really occur to Asagi that on any other day she would have thought it odd (to say the very least) that Okabe-sensei had shown up to class in full geisha costume, that there was a cave cricket roughly the size of a large bear sitting at the back of the room, or that she was suddenly placed directly behind Torako in the seating arrangement.

As the geisha Okabe expounded at length upon the subject of Australia's long and bloody war against Antarctica, Asagi brushed the tip of one of the cricket's antennae off her shoulder and looked at Torako's back. Beside her, Oikawa yawned and slumped forward onto her desk.

Torako sighed and turned in her chair. For some reason Asagi thought nothing of the fact that she was smoking in school, or that she had two cigarettes in her mouth at once. "Damn, this is boring," she muttered.

Asagi nodded. "You wanna get outta here?"

Torako shrugged, and they got to their feet. As they crossed to the windows, Okabe stopped his lecture. "Um, what are you two doing?" he asked, more curious than annoyed.

Without a word, Torako grabbed Hagiwara up from where she sat at her desk and threw her at Okabe. The rest of the class just watched with detached curiosity as their teacher was knocked to the floor and Asagi slid one of the windows open. Then she and Torako were climbing through and hopping down to the grass outside.

"So where are we going?" Torako asked as they crossed the street and left the school grounds.

Asagi looked up at the cloudless blue sky, and as she watched a bizarre yellow catlike thing flew overhead, leaving contrails from its pointed legs. She turned to Torako. "Wanna go to my house?"

Torako shrugged again and flicked her cigarettes away. "Awright."

The Ayase residence was empty; no big surprise, seeing as Asagi's father had work, her mother had tennis lessons and had likely taken Ena with her, and Fuuka was still at school. After kicking off their inside shoes (Torako took out an overhead light fixture with one and a vase with the other) Asagi led the way upstairs to her room, and as soon as Torako had followed her inside she locked the door.

"No way out now," she leered, and took a step forward.

Torako looked past her at the door. "The lock is on this side," she pointed out.

Asagi took another step forward. "I'll stop you from unlocking it."

Torako looked out the window. "I could take my chances on the roof."

Asagi shook her head and pounced, knocking her back onto the bed. The mattress cried out as they landed, creaking loudly as Torako hit on her back and bounced once before Asagi had her pinned underneath her. She knew she only was only a few kilos heavier than the chronically skinny Torako and it wouldn't take much effort for her to throw her off, but she also knew that she wouldn't do that. As much as she might protest sometimes Asagi knew that Torako secretly enjoyed it when she forced herself on her like this.

Sure enough, there was only the token resistance of a half-hearted attempt to scuttle away from her, and then Asagi was holding Torako's arms back above her head with one hand as she leaned in and kissed her fiercely. Torako's chest heaved against her as she pressed down, and small gasps and moans were muffled by Asagi's lips.

Whether she was drooling with excitement or Torako had somehow developed anti-gravity spit she wasn't sure, but Asagi felt her mouth starting to fill with saliva as she untucked her uke's shirt with her free hand and slid it up underneath. Her fingers slid up over a soft, warm mound of flesh; apparently Torako had lost her bra at some point between now and PE.

Asagi paused in her attack to fill her lungs with air, and her eyes immediately opened wide as she felt the saliva that had been filling her mouth trying to enter her lungs.

Okabe-sensei stopped his lecture and joined the rest of the class in watching as Asagi pitched forward, coughing and hacking. As she leaned over her desk drool poured from her open mouth, soaking her notebook. Several students pulled faces and and leaned away in disgust.

"Uh, are you okay, Ayase-san?" he asked.

He wasn't sure Asagi had heard him at first, but after a moment of coughing she looked up weakly and nodded.

"You need some water?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm fine," she croaked, coughed several more times, and wiped at her eyes.

He nodded. "Okay. Maybe that'll teach you not to fall asleep in class, hm?"

She nodded again, clearing her throat five times.

Okabe turned back to the blackboard. "Okay, anyway, moving on. On November 19th, 1937, the Japanese army reached Suchow, which we now call Suzhou . . ."

Asagi tuned out the lesson as she cleared her trachea of saliva and swallowed it down. She looked around the class, and felt herself start to turn red as she saw the suppressed grins and heard the muffled giggles. She looked across the room at Oikawa, and saw that she'd already turned her attention back to the lecture, though she seemed to be forcing herself not to crack a smile. Then she looked back at Torako, whose face was a battleground between amusement and concern. Asagi shot her a silly grin as if to say _I'm fine,_ before turning her attention to her drool-covered notes.

--

"So you looking forward to being an upperclassman?" Asagi asked. The school year was ending next month, and then they'd be starting their second year as high school students. All over the school the students' collective terror over the impending year-end tests was almost palpable. Neither Asagi nor Torako never really cared about academics (at least not enough to actually try to live up to their full potential), but even they couldn't help feeling a little nervous, if only through a subconscious herd instinct.

Torako shrugged. "I suppose." It wasn't as though she'd be getting any added benefits out of her new place in the student hierarchy, the upperclassmen already tended to steer clear of her. Apparently _someone_ (she suspected Asagi, though she vehemently denied it) had blabbed about her fight with Ohzawa's little bunch, and over the rest of the school year the tale had somehow managed to grow ever more exaggerated and violent. Last she heard, the most recent iteration had Ohzawa pulling a knife on her and getting her right arm badly dislocated as a result. Why she hadn't shown up to school in September with her arm in a sling was left for the audience to figure out.

Just when it seemed like everyone was forgetting about her reputation from middle school, too.

"I think the first thing I'm gonna do is make some first-years call me 'sempai,'" Asagi was saying. "'Ayase-sempai.' Has a ring to it, don't you think?"

"If you're letting that small amount of power go to your head, I'd hate to see you wield any _real_ authority," Torako said.

Asagi wagged a finger at her. "Oh, like I don't already? You seem to be forgetting our relationship, _uke._"

_And just what kind of relationship _is_ this?_ Torako wondered. _So far all we seem to do different from before you confessed to me is make out and feel each other up._ She didn't actually _say_ that, though. She supposed it was to be expected, seeing as they were both only teenagers and not nearly as knowledgeable about relationships as they often liked to believe ("Even the smartest teenager is an idiot half the time," as her father once put it), but it still bothered her sometimes. It also bothered her that sometimes she wasn't sure if she _wanted_ anything more than what they currently had.

"It'd better warm up soon," Asagi said. Though the winter had actually been fairly mild this year, they both still complained about it. For all their differences, Asagi and Torako at least had their preference for warm weather in common. "Do you think your parents would let you stay at my place until the weather turns? I could use the body heat when I sleep."

"What am I, a human kotatsu?" Torako asked. She knew Asagi was kidding, but it had become customary for her to show annoyance anyway.

Asagi shook her head. "Of course not, I can't make my kotatsu moan like you do."

Torako sighed. _Again with the sensitive nipples . . ._ Ever since Asagi had stumbled upon that little detail, she seemed to tease her about it every chance she got. "I heard it's supposed to be getting warmer by the end of the week," she said.

"It better," Asagi muttered.

Torako shifted her schoolbag to her other hand and rotated her arm a few times. It was still a little stiff from sleeping on it wrong last night. She didn't say anything, and neither did Asagi; they walked together in silence, watching the familiar scenery pass by around them.

Finally she took the cigarette from between her lips and turned her head. "So did you have a nice nap today?"

Asagi laughed and shook her head. "I think I only dozed off for a few minutes," she said. "I managed to have a pretty good dream, though."

Torako took a drag and blew a thin stream of smoke. "What about?"

Asagi grinned and her eyes gleamed. "Come to my house with me and I'll tell you all about it," she said lasciviously, prompting a look of obviously feigned disgust.

"Ugh," Torako said, "does your mind _ever_ drag itself out of the gutter?"

Asagi just shrugged. "So are you coming over or not?"

Torako took another drag and looked at the cigarette in her hand as she exhaled the smoke. "Yeah, fine," she finally said.

Asagi grinned wantonly and shook her arm. They walked in silence for another block before she spoke up again. "Oh that's right, the sports meet is this month, isn't it?"

Torako winced. "Ah, don't remind me."

"Awww," Asagi teased, "Towako don' wanna do da spowts meeeeet."

"Well I _don't,_" Torako said a little defensively. "I always feel like an idiot with everyone watching me get left in the dust."

"Oh come on, you're not _that_ bad," Asagi assured her. "I mean you can run pretty fast, and you're stronger than you look."

"I still do badly though."

Asagi shrugged. "It's a shame beating people up isn't an event," she said. "You'd probably come in first for that."

"Ha ha ha," Torako said sarcastically. "It's a shame molestation isn't an event, _you'd_ come in first for _that._"

"And don't you forget it," Asagi said and slapped her on the ass, prompting a startled yelp. Asagi laughed and shrank away as Torako raised a fist threateningly.

--

When Torako finally got home, she went straight up to her room. She was just closing her bedroom door when she heard the next one over open. _Oh hell, not now._

She was tossing her coat over the back of her desk chair when the door banged open. "Well well well, where were _you?_" Tomo asked with a sleazy grin.

"Turning tricks on a street corner," Torako said.

Tomo pointed. "You lying bastard! You were at Asagi's, weren't you!"

Torako glared at her and sat down on her bed to pull off her socks. "What business is it of yours, anyway?!" she snapped.

Tomo recoiled and took a step back. "Youch, what's with _you?_"

"Tired," Torako muttered.

Tomo just stood there looking at her.

"What," Torako said. "_What._"

"You're lying," Tomo said, seriously this time.

Torako sighed and crossed her arms. "Just leave me alone, okay?"

Tomo crossed her own arms. "I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what your problem is, Tora-chan."

Torako stared up at her sister. A moment later, Tomo was landing hard in the hallway as Torako locked her bedroom door. She was just turning back to her bed when there was a loud _bang_ as Tomo kicked the door and a pained yell as she was reminded why kicking doors barefoot was often not the best idea.

Torako listened to her sister's door slam shut before she crawled into bed. She didn't feel especially tired, but the blanket gave her a warm sense of security. As she stared up at the ceiling, colored gold by the light of the setting sun, she thought of what had happened in Asagi's bedroom and wondered why she was so uncertain about how she felt about it.

It had started the way their intimate sessions usually did, with Asagi acting as the predator and Torako the prey. (Early on, Asagi had actually told her that she _wanted_ to always make the first move, only reaffirming Torako's suspicion that she really got off on being the one in charge.) Once she had her pinned Asagi had gone up her shirt, as she had so often before, but soon after she'd pulled her hand out . . . and Torako felt it transfer onto her thigh as Asagi's other hand tightened its grip on her wrists.

After that it had deviated considerably from the normal routine. She remembered the eager press of Asagi's body on top of her, the frenzied beating of her heart, the hot breath and the taste of her lips, and then she suddenly felt the hand between her legs, fingers probing at her panties like a hungry beast pounding on the door of a peasant hut. She remembered jerking involuntarily; she'd never touched her _there_ before.

"Do you want me to stop?" she'd asked.

"N-no . . ."

To her credit, Asagi had restrained herself to staying _outside_ the underwear, but that had been more than sufficient to get the job done anyway.

Torako had never been brought to climax by a hand that wasn't her own before, and she wasn't sure how she felt about it. Was it strange that she'd been turned on by the feeling of helplessness, of being completely at the mercy of Asagi as she held her arms up out of the way and touched her there? That didn't make her a pervert, did it? _Of course you're a pervert stupid, just own up and be done with it._

Of course she knew that she hadn't been _completely_ helpless; if she'd genuinely wanted out of that situation, there wasn't a whole lot Asagi could have done to stop her. Torako didn't know many fancy pressure points or martial arts moves, but she knew what parts of the human body usually hurt the most when a fist was applied with the right amount of force. If she hadn't wanted her to do that to her on _some_ level, Asagi would have been on the floor and she out the door in no time flat.

And it wasn't that she hadn't enjoyed it. It had felt good. Really, _really_ good.

But still, she couldn't shake the feeling that she'd just done something bad, and the fact that she couldn't figure out _why_ only made it worse. That hadn't been _sex,_ right? She was still a virgin, right? What even _counted_ as sex between two girls, anyway?

Did there have to be _penetration,_ at least?

Torako groaned and rolled onto her side. _Dammit, why am I wondering about these things?_ she thought. _She made me come, I liked it, end of story. Quit over-analyzing, Torako._ But she knew that wasn't true. It wasn't _end of story._ A line had been crossed, one that she'd been hesitating at, reluctant to step over. A new stage of the relationship had just been reached, a new ability added to Asagi's little bag of tricks. A new stage, and not far down the road was . . .

"Sex." She whispered the word to herself under her breath, so quietly that she she'd barely heard it. Actual, factual, sexual intercourse. Though she wasn't nearly as fixated on the subject as her sister seemed to be sometimes she certainly thought about it, and had wondered when her time would come. Sometimes she anticipated it, and other times the thought filled her with dread. Now that it actually seemed likely to happen (at least in her mind at the moment), she was being jerked between either emotion so fast it was almost literally making her head spin.

She squeezed her eyes closed and wrapped her arms around her pillow. _Ugh,_ why did everything have to be so damn complicated?

She was saved from having to answer that by the sound of her window sliding open. She rolled over to see Tomo leaning into her room, an uncharacteristic look of genuine concern on her face. "Come on Torako, I can tell something's going on, tell me what it is."

Torako sighed, shook her head, and rolled over to cover her head with her pillow. "_Go away,_" she said.

"But-"

"If I decide to tell you later on I will," Torako said, "but _please,_ just leave me alone for now, okay?"

Tomo hesitated, then finally sighed. "Fine," She turned to go back over to her room, but paused when Torako said her name.

"Tomo?"

"Yeah?"

Torako was quiet for a moment. "You'll always be there for me, right?"

Tomo nodded and smiled reassuringly, though she could obviously see neither gesture with her head under the pillow. "Of course, Tora-chan! You're my baby sister, after all."

Torako was quiet again, then: "Thanks."

Tomo nodded again. "Don't mention it!"

"Now close the damn window, you're letting cold air in."

* * *

**-Author Notes-**

In the words of Chris Onstad, "It's not funny, it's character development."

Okay, I'm going to go on record right here saying that a wet dream and a flashback love scene were right up there with the _last_ things I expected to write when I started this chapter. That's one of the things I love about writing, things can take on a will of their own sometimes and take off in unexpected directions. I'm not really sure I feel entirely comfortable with _this_ direction though, since I feel a little like I need a shower now, and I'm not entirely sure I want this to set a precedent and force a rating upgrade. Yeah we _know_ this sorta thing goes on, but knowing and actually reading are two very different things. And besides, I can't help but think it feels like just a cheap attempt to titilate the reader, even when it isn't.

In other news, I'm going to try and see if I can't shy away from the whole "Jump-cut" style of writing from now on, at least whenever possible. I think it's becoming a crutch for me where if I can't figure out a way to extend a scene I just end it, and if I can't think up a way to connect two different scenes I just throw a jump-cut in there. I can't help but feel it makes for a very herky-jerky pace and fucks up the narrative.

Longer scenes will probably prove to be a challenge since at this stage we're between plotlines so I'm basically winging it, but then again nobody ever improved their writing chops by avoiding challenges, right?

And in case you're wondering why Asagi saw Chiyo's pappy in her dream, remember that Fuuka has a plush of it in chapter 42 of Yotsubato!, as well as a T-shirt in chapter 13. So it's not inconceivable that she'd be familiar with it already.

And yes, I copped out and used a line from a song as the chapter title _again. _In my defense, I was falling asleep _as I typed this_ so I'm not exactly in the best mood to wrack my brain for an Earth-shatteringly original chapter title. Hey I know, maybe I'll turn it into a game! I use song lyrics for every chapter, and you try to guess the song! No using Google.


	24. Fight Fight Fight til the Break of Dawn

True to the weather forecaster's word the weather _had_ improved, and while the conditions may not have been absolutely perfect for a sports meet at least the students could go out in their gym clothes with a degree of comfort. Still, there was enough of a bite in the air to justify allowing anyone who wanted to wear their sweatpants, a concession for which Torako was supremely grateful. It came as no surprise to anyone that the entire female portion of Kusanagi-sensei's class had also elected to wear the pants.

Torako was sitting in the grass with her legs folded under her, waiting until the next event that she had to take part in. Beside her Oikawa lay stretched out on her back, chest heaving. She'd just returned from the obstacle course, and she was exhausted.

"Geez," Torako said. "And here I thought _I_ was out of shape."

Oikawa breathed a few times before responding. "Go die in a ditch, Takino."

Asagi laughed and leaned back to look at Oikawa. "You gonna live, Yuko-chan?"

Oikawa sat up. "Screw you guys, I'm fine."

Asagi changed the subject. "So is Tomo-chan still mad at me?"

Torako stopped picking blades of grass to look at her. "Hm? How should I know?" Though she'd refused to tell her sister just why she'd been acting so weird last week, Tomo had apparently deduced that Asagi must have been at the root of the matter and had given her the cold shoulder the last time they'd run into each other.

Asagi shrugged. "Well I don't know, maybe because _you're her sister_ and you _live together?_"

Torako began pulling a blade of grass apart into tiny pieces. "Well I wouldn't worry, she's not one to hold grudges for long."

"What exactly does she think I _did_ to you, anyway?"

Torako shrugged. "_I_ don't know. I certainly didn't tell her anything, I know better than to hand her a loaded gun like that."

"What are you guys talking about?" Oikawa asked.

Torako glanced at Asagi before answering. _Please please PLEASE don't answer that._ "Nothing," she said. "It's . . . private."

Asagi threw an arm over Torako's shoulders and leaned across her to talk to Oikawa. "Oh, I fingered Torako last week and her sister's pissed at me now."

Torako blushed furiously and shoved Asagi away. "_Shut up!_" she hissed, and looked around to make sure there was no one else within earshot of them. There were a few boys nearby, but they were apparently too caught up in their own conversation to overhear theirs.

Oikawa leaned away from them with a look of revulsion. "Oh _god_ I didn't need to hear that."

Torako leaned forward and buried her face in her hands. "_Why_ did you have to _tell_ her that . . ."

Asagi laughed and picked herself up from where she'd rolled onto her side. "Sorry Torako, but she asked. Anyway, it's nothing to be ashamed of."

"Shameful or not that's not something you just go blabbing about to anyone who asks," Oikawa told her.

"_Thank_ you," Torako said, face still hidden in her hands.

Asagi sighed. "Fine, fine, I'll try to keep it to myself next time, okay?"

"You _better,_" Torako warned and sat up.

Asagi held up a hand. "Promise."

Oikawa was quiet for a moment. "So . . . what was it like?"

Asagi thought before answering. "Moist."

Torako sighed.

"I wasn't talking to _you,_" Oikawa said.

Torako shook her head. "No way, I'm not discussing this, especially not with other people around."

Asagi _hmphed._ "Ah, you're no fun, Torako." Then to Oikawa, she said: "I know she enjoyed it though, she made the _cutest_ little moaning and panting sounds when she-"

Torako slapped a hand over her mouth. "Asagi, _please!_"

--

Torako took her place at the starting line and looked down the line at the runners from the other four classes. Well, at least she was taller than most of the other runners, which meant her legs were longer. She hoped that would confer some sort of advantage in jumping hurdles. _Of course, that's also more leg that has to clear them, too . . ._

As she stretched in preparation she took another look at a girl down on the far right end of the line. _Is that Sasaki? Damn, she's put on weight. I didn't know she went to this school._ She hoped she didn't notice her. Last she'd seen Yomiko Sasaki she'd been bleeding from the nose and writhing on the ground from a punch to the solar plexus, so Torako rather doubted she'd be thrilled to see her again.

The starter pistol went off, and Torako put those thoughts away for another time as she took off running. She didn't even try to take the lead, concentrating only on the first hurdle in her path. _Jump!_ She cleared it, faltered on the landing, kept going. Don't look at the other runners, they don't matter. Second hurdle. _Jump!_ Hit the ground and keep running. Third hurdle coming up, ignore the burning in your lungs. _Jump!_ Keep moving, seven more to go. She heard her class cheering her on, but she forced herself to ignore them too.

There was a crash and a wail as someone hit their hurdle. Torako fought the impulse to rubberneck as she cleared number four. She was in third place now, with two in front of her and two behind. She noted with some satisfaction that Sasaki seemed to be one of those falling behind. _Jump!_ Okay, halfway there. She knew Okabe didn't give a third of a damn if his class came in first for their year or not, but she didn't want to look like a fool by losing the race either.

Sixth hurdle. _Jump!_ She pushed off, brought her legs up . . . and her foot caught the hurdle. _Shit!_ Torako felt herself stop short in midair as her jump was interrupted, and almost in slow motion saw the hurdle collapse beneath her as she began her premature descent. _This could hurt,_ she thought as she straightened her legs and the ground rushed up to meet her. She felt the impact first in her right leg, then her left as she miraculously managed to land on her feet. She felt herself pitching forward and forced herself to run, trying to use that momentum to keep moving. Somehow it worked, and she was able to jump again in time to barely clear the seventh hurdle. By the time she was on her way to the eighth she'd regained her pace, though that little slip-up had knocked her back alongside Sasaki.

Torako's legs pumped furiously as she touched down from clearing the ninth hurdle. _Okay, last one,_ she thought. _At least gotta beat Sasaki._ She didn't know _why_ she had to finish ahead of Sasaki; it wasn't as though they were old enemies, she'd fought her once in her first year in middle school and then hadn't seen her ever since she'd moved to a different class with the start of year two. Maybe she just didn't want to lose something as stupid as a _hurdle race_ to someone she'd beaten in a fist fight.

Okay, last one. _Jump!_ Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sasaki clear her last hurdle just a second after she did. _Keep the lead, Torako._ She hit the ground running, and sprinted for the finish line. When she'd finally crossed the line and slowed to a stop she put her hands on her knees to catch her breath and found herself almost wishing she _had_ worn her gym shorts that day. Almost.

Well, at least she'd beaten Sasaki.

--

"Shake-shake, shake-shake, jump!"

Torako closed her eyes as Asagi shook the pop-pom in her face. "Shake-shake, shake-shake, jump!"

She waved her arm away. "I get the idea," she said.

Asagi hopped back a step. "Then we do a kick, like _this!_"

Torako staggered back and swore as Asagi's foot swung up and caught her right in the jaw. "_Bloodshitgutterfuck!_"

Asagi shouted and dropped her pom-poms. "Waaugh! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! Are you alright?!"

Torako whimpered and held her jaw. "You kicked me in the face!"

Asagi tried and failed to keep a straight face. "I know, it was an accident," she said, before a truncated laughed got out.

"It's not funny!" Torako said, though she was trying not to laugh too. Her lip tasted coppery, and when she touched it her fingers came away red.

"You're bleeding? Is it bad?"

She shook her head. "No, I just bit it a little. You didn't even get me that hard, it just startled me." She wiped it on her shirt. "I should've known you'd start beating me sooner or later."

Asagi stuck her tongue out. "Oh it was an _accident _and you _know it._" She picked up her pom-poms from the ground and shook them off. "Tell you what, I'll make it up to you later."

"I'm almost afraid to ask how you plan on doing that," Torako said as she touched her lip again and spat.

Asagi shrugged. "Oh, I'll think of something." Someone called to her and she turned her head. "Oh I gotta go, we're about to start. Watch me!" she said over her shoulder as she went off to join the other girls in the cheerleading competition. As Torako watched her go she wondered if whatever Asagi thought up would involve that cheerleading outfit. _God Torako, get your mind out of the gutter._ Well if her mind _was_ in the gutter lately it was probably Asagi's fault, anyway.

"Hey!" She turned to see Oikawa waving as she approached. "Did I miss it?"

Torako shook her head. "No, they're about to start. You missed Asagi kicking me in the face though."

Oikawa laughed. "What, seriously? She _kicked you in the face?_"

"I'm deeply moved by your sympathy," Torako deadpanned.

"Sorry, it's just funny. And you're obviously not mad about it, so . . ." She paused. "It _was_ an accident, right?"

Torako nodded and leaned against a tent support to watch the cheerleading routine. "Of course. If it wasn't do you think I'd be standing here watching her?"

Oikawa shrugged and took a place next to her as the routine began. "I don't know, you _do _seem to let her walk all over you sometimes."

Torako crossed her arms and shook her head. "Well she wouldn't get away with _that._"

"I wouldn't have figured she'd be able to _get_ her leg up that high," Oikawa said, then pointed as Asagi's group kicked. "Oh yeah, there she goes."

"I can get _my_ leg up that high," Torako said.

"Okay, prove it," Oikawa said challengingly.

Torako shrugged and pushed away from the tent pole with her elbow. Turning to face Oikawa, she brought her leg back before swinging it up as high as she could.

Oikawa's head flew back and she staggered and fell when Torako's foot nailed her in the face.

"Oh _shit!_"

--

"Way to go," Asagi said, "you're beating people up by _accident_ now."

Torako leaned forward and put her head in her hands. "Oh shut up," she said. "She wanted to see how high I could kick."

"Oh, so _naturally_ you do that by _kicking her in the face._"

Torako glared at her. "Hey, _you_ did the exact same thing to _me,_ so shut up!"

Asagi laughed. "Oh, I'm kidding anyway, I know it was an accident."

Torako hunched over and wrapped her arms around herself. The breeze had picked up, and she was being reminded that despite the sunshine and the greenery, it was still winter. "Isn't this stupid thing almost over _yet?_" They weren't sitting near a clock, and they hadn't really thought to check the time when they'd taken the whimpering Oikawa to the nurse's tent.

Asagi leaned over to one side and got out the schedule she'd been sitting on. "Says here there's just four more events before the final relay." She turned to Torako. "Are you in any of 'em?"

Torako thought for a moment. "I'm in the long jump."

Asagi nodded. "Makes sense, with your long legs."

"You're just as tall as I am, my legs are no longer than yours."

Asagi looked at Torako's legs. "Well I guess yours just look longer since they're so skinny."

Torako just watched a bird fly above the school and tapped at her lip with her finger. Being outside like this and not being able to smoke was downright sadistic. Nearby a group of students from another class were talking amongst themselves. Every few moments someone would laugh.

"Ah, here she comes," Asagi said.

Torako looked up to see Oikawa approaching from the direction of the nurse's tent, holding an ice pack to the side of her face.

"Feeling better?" Asagi asked as she sat down in the grass beside them.

"Nurse gave me some aspirin," Oikawa said. "Still hurts though."

Torako fought the urge to apologize; she'd already done so a half a dozen times.

Oikawa shrugged. "But at least I don't have to do that stupid three-legged race with Izumi now."

"Well there you go," Torako said.

--

Asagi felt cold aluminum slap into her palm and she launched herself forward, eyes concentrated on the girl ahead of her in the sequence. As Fukuda neared she saw someone from class four pass her out of the corner of her eye, and farther over a runner from class two was streaking ahead of everyone. _Move it move it move it!_ She tried to will more speed out of her legs as she came up alongside the girl from class four. Then Fukuda was directly in front of her, starting forward in anticipation. Asagi swung her arm forward and down, smacking the baton into her hand and plodding to a stop as Fukuda took over from there.

When she'd caught her breath, Asagi watched Fukuda close the distance to the anchor before she turned to rejoin the rest of her class by the sidelines. She supposed she was lucky that Okabe didn't really care if his class won the meet or not, because Fukuda wasn't an especially fast runner, and the fast pace set by Izumi and maintained by Asagi had all but vanished by the time Ohzawa was hauling ass to the finish line with the baton. As much as she disliked her, Asagi had to admit she was fast.

"We'll be lucky if we make third," Torako said beside her.

"Hey, Okabe!" Yoshino-sensei called over from where he stood with the rest of class two. "Looks like I'll be beating you again this year!"

"Hey Yoshino!" Okabe yelled back with a wide smile, "Looks like I don't give a shit! _Again!_" When he'd waved and turned back to watch the runner from class two cross the finish. "_Man_ I hate that guy," Asagi heard him mutter.

--

"What happened to _you?_"

Oikawa looked up to see her sister walking into the living room and staring at her. "I got kicked in the face," she said.

"What? By who?"

Oikawa looked back at the TV. "Torako, and it was an accident."

Rei scratched at her ear. "How do you _accidentally_ kick someone in the face."

A sigh. "I didn't believe her that she could kick that high, so I told her to prove it."

Rei looked down at her feet. "You didn't believe her? It's easy, look." When she kicked her leg up she didn't notice their little brother coming around the corner out of the kitchen until the ball of her foot connected with his jaw and he was stumbling into the coffee table.

Rei screamed. "AAUGH! I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY!"

* * *

**-Author Notes-**

Oh man what the hell am I doing writing about a dang sports meet I got no enthusiasm or understanding of sports this is a dang old fool's errand oh man oh _goodness._

I really don't know why everyone is so skeptical about kicking that high. It's not hard to do. Oh wait, I know why, because otherwise there would be no lame running "getting kicked in the face" gag.

The "Guess the song lyrics I stole the title from" game continues! Yeah shut up so it's only only barely related to the chapter WHO'S WRITING THIS STORY, YOU OR ME?!

That's what I thought.


	25. Caught in the Camera Eye

"How do I even know if this thing's on?"

"There should be a light," Yomi's voice said. "Hey, you're recording already."

"Oh, right. And I look through this? Hey, what the hell, I can't see _jack!_"

"You've got the lens cap on, smart one," Torako pointed out.

"Oh, yeah." Light flooded the viewfinder before the camera compensated for brightness. Torako and Yomi were sitting on the back patio of the Takino house, and they both looked slightly annoyed. "Where's the zoom on this thing?"

Yomi lifted her arm and pointed. "It's that switch by your fingers. No, not . . . that one. Yeah." Torako uncrossed her arms, sighed, and lit a cigarette.

The picture suddenly began zooming in and out, too quickly for the autofocus to compensate. "Hey, this is fun!" Tomo said, and pointed the camera at Yomi. "Extreme close-uuuuup!"

"Are you done goofing around with it?" Yomi asked.

The camera pointed at Torako. "Extreme close-uuuuup!"

Yomi got up. "Okay, gimme the camera."

The picture swung away to point at the wall surrounding the back yard as Tomo tried to keep the camera for herself. "No way, I'm not done!"

"You're just goofing around!"

"Screw you four-eyes, I'm still using it! Get your own!"

"It _is_ my own!" Yomi yelled and the picture shook and swung violently as Yomi tried to wrest her video camera out of Tomo's hands.

"Tomo, just give her the camera," Torako said. Then the front of Yomi's shirt filled the viewfinder as she finally managed to get it away.

"You suck, Yomi!" Tomo said as the camera pointed at a pair of feet and the picture went black.

When the camera started recording again, Tomo and Torako were standing side by side in the middle of the back yard. "Are we rolling?" Tomo asked.

"Yeah," came Yomi's reply.

Tomo immediately put on a wide grin and pointed at the camera. "HELLOOOOOO everyone! It's time now for the Amazing Adventures of Tomo the Great! I am your host, Tomo the Great, and this is my sidekick, Torako the Gay!"

Torako was in the middle of backhanding her sister when there was a jump cut to them standing side by side again. This time the side of Tomo's face was red. As soon as she saw the recording light she put one hand on her hip and pointed with the other. "What it is, you rock and roll faggots! Welcome to the Amazing Adventures of Tomo the Great! I'm Tomo the Great, and this is Torako the . . . uh . . . Tall!" She swung an arm out to indicate Torako, smacking her in the arm. "Today we are going to be performing daring feats of skill and bravery to entertain _you,_ the audience!" She turned to Torako. "Isn't that right, sidekick?"

"Why are we suddenly doing a TV show?" Torako asked. "And why am I the sidekick?"

Tomo threw her arms up and gritted her teeth. "Urrgh! _Cut!_"

Suddenly they were standing in the middle of the street, and Torako had her bike.

"Behold!" Tomo exclaimed, and gestured to something at her feet. A second later the shot zoomed way out, then tightened to show them standing by a ramp made out of a wooden board propped up on a bucket. "The Jump of Death!"

"It's barely even a hop," Torako said.

"Don't let its size deceive you!" Tomo warned. "The Jump of Death is known far and wide for killing those who dare to take it on in ways so horrible you could scarcely comprehend it!"

"You just put that together two minutes ago," Torako said.

"The Jump of Death breaks down for easy storage."

Torako sighed. "Fine, whatever. So I'm going to be jumping this thing?"

Tomo nodded. "Yes. But you'll probably die."

"Then why am I doing it again?" She mounted the bike and pedaled out of the frame.

"For the _fans!_" Tomo called after her.

"Nobody's going to watch this!" Torako called back as Yomi and Tomo moved to the side of the street. The camera moved to focus on her as she reached the end of the block, circled around, and started accelerating toward the ramp. She got halfway up before it collapsed underneath her, her bike losing balance and trying to fall onto its side and the bucket launching down the street.

"Ah, _dammit!_" Torako swore as she swung her legs down and barely caught herself from wiping out.

"You did it _wrong!_" Tomo shouted at her.

"How do you ride a bike up a ramp _wrong?_" Torako wanted to know.

"Well you obviously found a way," Tomo said as she started down the street after the bucket. The camera moved from her retreating back over to Torako, standing with her bike and shaking her head.

"This is stupid," she said into the camera.

"I know," Yomi's voice answered, and the picture dropped to point at the pavement.

"Why did you even tell her you _got_ that thing?"

"I didn't mean to," Yomi said, "it just kind of slipped out."

Torako sighed audibly.

"So what was up with you last month?" Yomi asked.

"Huh?"

"Tomo told me you got kind of weird for a few days."

"You're still recording."

"Okay, attempt number two!" Tomo announced when the scene cut to her standing over the rebuilt ramp. This time the bucket was pushed further up under the board. She looked down the street, and the camera panned to zoom in on Torako circling at the end of the block. "You ready?" Tomo yelled.

Torako waved and started towards the ramp again. Tomo backed over to the opposite side of the street as she approached, and then Torako was riding her bike up the ramp and through the air. The jump was modest at best, but Torako still had to fight to keep from losing balance when she landed.

"Wooooo!" Tomo shouted, and the camera swung back to show her with her arms held in the air. "Did you get that?"

"Got it," Yomi confirmed. Torako rode past through the frame as she circled back around.

"You have to do it again though," Tomo said to her, "your landing sucked."

"No way, screw you," Torako said back from outside the frame.

"Tora-chan _DO IT!_" Tomo snarled, and as Torako came back through the picture she reached out and smacked her on the head.

"Noooo," Torako said, once more out of the frame.

Tomo grabbed the ramp up from the street and swung it at her sister as she circled around again.

"Hey whoa _watchitwhatthehell!_" Torako ducked and swerved to avoid the swinging ramp, and she was suddenly filling the camera's viewfinder. There was a clatter of a falling bike, thumps of colliding bodies, and two girls' shouts as the picture swung crazily before bursting into static and going black.

"You've got it working?" Torako asked. The camera was pointed at grass. The tip of a shoe came into view.

"Yeah," Yomi said. The picture moved, swaying to and fro before settling on Torako leaning on a birdbath.

"You got damn lucky," Torako said to her side, and the camera moved to point at Tomo sitting in the grass.

Tomo shrugged. "Hey, _you_ were the idiot that crashed into her, not me."

Torako was stepping over to her and starting to shout when the scene cut again. Now they were standing in the street again, inside a circle drawn with blue chalk. "Sumo challenge!" Tomo announced. Torako glanced up at the sky. Tomo pushed her and said something the camera's microphone didn't pick up, and they moved to stand opposite each other. "Yomi, be the gong."

"Uh, gonnnng . . ."

Torako shoved Tomo out of the circle.

"You cheated!" Tomo accused her.

"How was that cheating?" Torako asked.

"It just is!" Tomo said as she stepped back into the circle. "Do-over!"

"Fine, fine," Torako sighed.

Tomo looked at the camera. "Yomi."

"Gonnnnnng . . ."

Before Torako could make a move Tomo punched her in the right breast. She was clutching her chest and shouting in pain when the scene cut to the two sisters on the grass of the front yard. Tomo was on the ground trying to get away, and Torako was on top of her trying to pin her down.

"Get off me!" Tomo snarled.

"Say you're sorry!"

"Never! Yomi, stop filming!"

"This is a lot more entertaining, though," Yomi said. It sounded like she was trying not to laugh.

"Apologize," Torako demanded, holding the collar of Tomo's shirt with one hand and pulling up a handful of grass with the other.

"I will not negotiate with terrorists," Tomo said, then spluttered and spat as Torako crammed grass into her mouth. "Pthah! Pleh! I think I swallowed an ant!"

"Are you ready to apologize?"

"Tomo, just say you're sorry," Yomi said.

"Never!" Tomo raised her arm up behind her and tried to smack Torako. Her hand found the front of her shirt, and she grabbed it and yanked. There was a popping of buttons and a shriek from Torako and the scene cut again.

Torako had changed her shirt. She and Tomo were standing by the plastic tool shed in their back yard, armed with a hose and a shovel, respectively.

"Okay, we're on," Yomi said.

"Okay!" Tomo said loudly. "In this shed is a wasp nest. It's been there for a while now, and we can't use the shed because of it. So today, my sidekick and I will do battle with the wasps, and drive them from our tool shed once and for all!"

"I'd like to go on record saying this is a terrible idea and there's no possible way that it will not end badly," Torako said.

"I'd like to second that," Yomi said from behind the camera.

"Oh shut up," Tomo said as she pulled an empty trash can up to the shed. "Get ready, Torako."

Torako muttered something and left the frame. When she returned, the hose's spray nozzle was dribbling water. "Okay."

Tomo hesitated for a moment, then slapped the shed door open. Torako sprayed the hose inside, and then Tomo swung the shovel. "I got it!"

A cloud of very angry wasps poured from the open door of the shed.

Tomo immediately screamed and dropped the shovel. She began running in circles around her sister, shouting curses and slapping at herself as the wasps attacked. Torako tried to spray them off with the hose, but as she turned to follow her it got wrapped around her legs and when Tomo inevitably tripped over it she went down alongside her. Torako immediately began thrashing and swearing too as the wasps went after her.

"Ow! Agh! It hurts! Oh god! Shit! Fuck shit!" Tomo shouted at the top of her lungs. "Yomi! Run, save yourself!"

"Tomo you _idiot,_" Yomi shouted back as the camera lowered, "I _told_ you this would happen! Get inside!" Then _she_ screamed as a contingent of wasps detached from the main group and went after her as well. The picture turned to blurring streaks as Yomi waved her arms and tried to evade the stinging insects, before the camera's strap came loose from her hand and the back of the Takinos' house filled the viewfinder, arcing swiftly down to the cement of the patio, a burst of static, and then black.

--

It took a while for Asagi to stop laughing. When she'd finished cackling and pounding her fist on the arm of the couch she wiped a tear from her eye and looked over at the two other girls sitting there. "That . . . that was hilarious!"

Torako sighed and moved the bag of ice to a new welt. "Yeah go on, laugh it up."

Tomo just beamed proudly. "It was all _my_ idea!"

"Your stupid idea got us stung by wasps and cost Yomi a brand new video camera," Torako said angrily.

They all looked to where Yomi was sitting at the coffee table. Her camera was in front of her, cracked wide open from its impact with the patio. "It's within the warranty period," she said quietly, "I can get it replaced."

"See?" Tomo said. "No harm done."

"No harm done?" Torako asked, then lifted her arm to show three swollen wasp stings. "_No harm done?!_"

As the sisters began arguing with each other Asagi picked up the remote. "I wanna watch it again!"

* * *

**-Author Notes-**

Not gonna lie, I basically wrote this chapter just to see if I could write a coherent narrative told (almost) entirely from the "viewpoint" of a video camera. I don't know why, I just wanted to see if I could. So now we have this. It was fun to write.

You may have noticed that this story is now rated M. I will take this moment to explain. No, it's not so I can write more explicit sex scenes, though since Asagi is kind of a pervert in this story that may end up happening anyway. While looking over the rating guidelines again this morning, I noticed that one of the criteria for an M rating was "coarse language." If you've read any of the notes I tack on here, you may have noticed that I have a bit of a tendency to fuckin' swear. So the main reason I've changed the rating is for language, not sex. So far at least.


	26. When Fighting With the Ones We've Loved

"Torako! Torako, wake up!"

Despite her hopes the shaking of her shoulder did not stop, so Torako groaned and rolled onto her side. As her eyes focused she saw her sister kneeling by her bed, eyes wide in the dim light of the moon. She glanced at her alarm clock; nearly two in the morning.

"What? What is it?" she slurred groggily.

"I had a bad dream," Tomo said matter-of-factly.

Torako blinked at her. " . . . Okay?"

Tomo elaborated. "You weren't there and dad had left us and mom got fired and me and Sakaki and Chiyo-chan had to become prostitutes so we didn't starve to death even though Chiyo-chan's rich but she didn't do anything really anyway and I lost my virginity to some stranger and then Yomi got mad at me." She reached the end of the sentence right as her lungs began to run out of air.

Torako nodded, still half asleep. "That . . . sounds pretty bad."

Tomo nodded. "What should I do about it?"

Torako rubbed her forehead and shrugged. " . . . Don't . . . become a prostitute?" She needed to be _told_ that?

Tomo thought it over a moment, then nodded. "Right. Thanks, Tora-chan."

"Get out of my room and let me sleep." Torako pointed towards the door as she lay on her back.

Tomo nodded again, got to her feet, and padded softly out of Torako's bedroom.

Torako groaned, flopped an arm over her eyes, and then rolled onto her stomach. She'd been in the middle of a nice dream, too, and now she'd never be able to get back to it.

If she had any dreams about becoming a hooker once she got back to sleep she was going to punch Tomo _so_ hard in the morning.

--

So far, being a second-year student wasn't much better than being a first-year, at least in Torako's estimation. She and Asagi had managed to stay in the same class, albeit with a different homeroom teacher, but Oikawa had been moved to class four. She still showed up every day to spend the lunch hour with them, but it felt strange to glance over in the middle of class and not see the spectacled girl dilligently taking notes, or spacing out if she already knew the subject.

As a replacement they got both Yomiko Sasaki _and_ Misao Otomo, who Torako didn't know even went to this school. Last she'd heard, Misao was getting into the same school as Tomo and Yomi. Torako had been a little apprehensive when she'd seen her former friend walk into the room that first day, especially considering the terms they'd last parted ways on, but Misao thankfully kept to herself. Sometimes Torako felt a momentary impulse to strike up a conversation with her, perhaps out of the guilty knowledge that if anyone had been in the wrong during the argument that signaled the end of their friendship it had been her, but every time she would decide against digging up the past.

One thing was certain, Torako definitely missed having Okabe as her homeroom teacher. Kaizano-sensei was a pleasant enough teacher, with a friendly personality and a pretty face, but she didn't joke around with her students nearly as much as Okabe had. There was also the fact that Torako couldn't quite shake the feeling that Kaizano didn't like her. No big surprise, being that she seemed fairly straight-laced and Torako was known among her fellow students mainly for getting into fights, smoking, and hanging out with someone who was known as something of a troublemaker in her own right. Torako _knew_ all that, but that didn't mean she didn't feel at least a little irritated whenever she got the impression that Kaizano felt the need to sleep with one eye open around her.

"So Mifune and Hagiwara are finally dating," Oikawa said to no one in particular as she unwrapped her sandwich. Those two had gone with her to class four.

"So?" Torako asked around a mouthful of meatball.

"Yeah," Asagi said, "who cares?"

Oikawa shrugged, unfazed by her announcement's unilaterally negative response. "Just making conversation. And it _does_ hold a certain degree of relevance." After saying that her eyes raised from her lunch to flit back and forth between Asagi and Torako.

" . . . We still haven't really worked that out yet," Torako said lamely.

"We're happy with our current arrangement," Asagi said nonchalantly.

"And that's . . . what, fuckbuddies?" Oikawa asked.

Torako scanned her eyes around, thankful that the ambient din of lunchtime kept their conversation from travelling far beyond their table.

"Of course not," Asagi said as she prodded at her food with her chopsticks. "Tora-chan still won't let me go all the way yet."

"Do we really need to be having this conversation _now?_" Torako asked her.

Asagi just shrugged.

"Well I just don't want either of you to get hurt," Oikawa said and picked up her sandwich.

"Why were you looking at me when you said that?" Torako asked.

Oikawa shrugged. "Because I know Asagi."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Asagi asked.

"It means you hurt people," Oikawa said with conversational bluntness. "You don't always mean to, but you do hurt people."

Asagi shrugged. "Well I wouldn't hurt Tora-chan."

"You'd better not, she could kick your ass from here to Hokkaido," Oikawa warned.

"And back again," Torako added as she chewed.

"Hmp!" Asagi made a smug sound. "I'll have you know I'm a lot tougher than I look!"

Torako and Oikawa both suppressed their giggles.

--

Torako inhaled deeply, savoring the early spring air. Though she hated winter she loved this time of year, when the air was getting comfortable but still had a bit of a bite to it. It felt _clean,_ not like the frigid air of winter that threatened to freeze her lungs or the hot, sticky air of summer. The atmosphere seemed clearer too, the sun seemed to shine brighter, and the sky seemed a deeper shade of blue. She was almost sorry that she had to ruin the effect by lighting her cigarette.

"You believe me, don't you?"

Torako looked at Asagi. "Hm? What're you talking about?"

Asagi shrugged slightly as she walked beside her. "You know, about what we were talking about during lunch. About me hurting you."

Torako thought a moment, then nodded. "Oh, yeah. That."

"You believe me that I'd never deliberately do anything to hurt you right?"

Torako nodded. "Of course I do. I wouldn't be here if I didn't."

"Good." Asagi nodded and left it at that. Torako stared at the back of her head from the corner of her eye.

_Good. Good what. Why? Good because why? Why wouldn't you hurt me, Asagi? Because you love me? If that why? Or do you just _like_ me?_ _Have you ever actually said it to me? Are you ever _going_ to?_

That wasn't fair of course, and she knew it. Torako often had trouble telling her own family she loved _them, _so it wasn't as though she had a leg to stand on concerning the issue of declarations of love. Still, she couldn't help that sometimes it felt like all she was to Asagi was a friend with benefits. She wanted something more out of this relationship than that.

At least, she usually thought so.

"You coming over today?" Asagi asked.

Torako sighed and shook her head. "No, I've gotta go with my dad to get a new desk."

Asagi laughed. "Oh yeah, Tomo-chan broke your old one."

Torako grimaced as she remembered her desk collapsing as Tomo dove on top of it in pursuit of a moth two nights ago. "Yeah."

"Well how about later?"

Torako shrugged doubtfully. "I'll probably have to assemble it myself, and that could take a while."

"Are you avoiding me?" Asagi asked.

"What? No. Of course not."

"Kidding," Asagi said with a smile. "Okay, I guess I'll let you enjoy your new desk tonight."

"Very generous of you," Torako said sarcastically.

"Yeah, I really spoil you, don't I?"

--

"Tomo, help me pick this up."

"I'm busy," Tomo said. Busy reading a manga on Torako's bed, but busy nonetheless.

Torako put a hand on the rubber foot of one of the unfinished desk's legs and glared at her sister.

"What?" Tomo asked.

"What do you mean _what?_" Torako asked. "Dad told you to help me put this thing together and so far all you've done is sit on my bed and read manga, so get off your lazy ass and help me with this."

Tomo sighed and put the magazine down before scooting to the edge of the bed and putting her feet on the floor. "_Fine,_ fine. Geez."

When Tomo was ready Torako lifted her end of the desk, standing it up on its back end.

"This is heavy!" Tomo whined.

"Tough titty, kitty," Torako grunted as they picked the desk up, turned it, and set it down on its feet. When they were done she stepped back and looked at the remaining pile of parts. "Okay, now help me get the hutch together."

Tomo had already hopped back onto the bed and was picking up the magazine.

Torako sighed, stepped up onto the bed, and slid the window open. Before Tomo could say anything she bent down, grabbed the magazine out of Tomo's hands, and threw it outside.

"HEY!" Tomo shouted and stood up.

"You're _supposed_ to be helping me!"

"Why should I!" Tomo demanded.

Torako pointed at the partial desk exasperatedly. "Because you _smashed my desk, _that's why! It's _your_ fault dad had to get me a new one!"

Tomo clenched her fists. "Why are you being such a bitch?!"

Torako glared down at her. "I could say the same to you!"

Tomo stared up at her for a moment, then looked over at the new desk. Without a word she turned, stepped over to the edge of the bed, and jumped. She came down feet first on top of the desk, and it collapsed beneath her with a snapping, tearing sound as legs broke and screws were ripped from their holes. Then there was a horrific crash as the whole assembly fell to the floor.

Torako watched in stunned silence as Tomo picked herself up from the wreckage and stepped away. She was straightening her shirt when the enraged shriek escaped from Torako's throat and she lunged at her sister. Before Tomo could get away she had grabbed the collar of her shirt and was drawing her fist back to hit her. As the petulant defiance in her sister's eyes turned to apprehension and fear Torako clenched her teeth and forced her arm to lower, and she settled for grabbing her shoulders and shaking her roughly.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" she asked shrilly. "Do you have any idea how much that desk cost?! Why would you do that?! Why do you have to be so mean?!"

"SHUT UP!" Tomo screeched and shoved Torako away. "Leave me alone!"

Torako shook her head in disbelief and looked at her angrily. "You're the one that just wrecked my new desk before I even got it put together, you little-"

"YOU MADE ME DO IT!" Tomo screamed, interrupting her. "It's all your fault! All of it! _I hate you, Torako!_"

Torako didn't follow her sister as she ran out the bedroom door. She was too confused. What the _hell_ was that all about, and what had brought it on? The front door slammed, and she turned to look out the window as Tomo shoved through the front gate and ran down the street in the direction of Yomi's house. She stared down at the empty street for a moment, trying to figure out why Tomo would suddenly blow up at her like that, before sighing and stooping down to see if she could salvage the desk.

--

**FOUR YEARS PREVIOUS**

"Where are _you_ going?"

Torako turned to see Tomo coming down the stairs as she was putting on her coat. "Misao's," she said.

"Can I come?" Tomo asked.

Torako shook her head. "No, her parents don't like you. Besides, I'm going there to do homework."

Tomo scowled and sat down heavily on the stairs. "You can do homework _here._"

Torako looked at her as she shouldered her schoolbag. "No I can't, you're too loud. Besides, it's a group thing."

"You're leaving now?" their father called from the living room.

"Yeah," Torako yelled back.

"You've got your knife, right?"

Torako sighed and patted her coat pocket. "Yeah, I got it."

"Come on Tora-chan, stay here," Tomo whined.

"Why do you want me to stay so bad?" Torako asked.

"I'm _bored!_"

Torako put her hand on the doorknob and turned it. "So go over to Yomi's or something, I'm leaving."

"You suck!"

Torako closed the door behind her and shivered in the cold late autumn air as she reached the street. As she started off towards the Otomo residence she glanced back over her shoulder at her house. She hated it when Tomo got in these clingy moods. Then she sighed and adjusted the bag's strap on her shoulder. Tomo's moodiness would blow over soon, just as it always did, so she might as well focus her attention on getting that science project done. She wondered for a moment if Tomo was still upset that she'd refused to do the project with her and Yomi, instead choosing to partner up with her friends Misao and Akira.

No, she couldn't be, that had been three days ago by now. More than enough time for her sister's mercurial temper to cool.

--

Tomo stomped up the stairs to her bedroom. Ignoring Kuro as he came trotting up behind her and shutting the door in the puppy's face, she let herself flop facedown onto her bed and breathed into her pillow. Stupid Torako. Why'd she have to go to her stupid friend's house, anyway? Misao was boring and Akira had a stupid-looking face, Torako didn't need to do a science project with those losers.

She rolled over and looked up at the ceiling. Yomi said she was just overreacting, that since Torako saw them both all the time anyway there was nothing wrong with wanting to do something with someone else for a change. That didn't mean Tomo had to like it, though. She supposed that deep down, in whatever small rational part of her brain that might exist, she agreed with Yomi, and knew better than to begrudge Torako her friends. But as always, Tomo's selfish, irrational side inevitably spoke louder, and it was saying that the more time Torako spent with those two, or any other of her friends, the _less_ time she was spending with her, and she didn't like that. She and her sister were supposed to be inseparable dammit, and Tomo didn't want anyone putting a stop to that.

She made an angry sound through her nose and crossed her arms. Well if Torako was going to ditch her like that, she'd just have to get even with her, and she knew just the way to do it.

--

It had taken them until well into the evening, but Torako, Misao, and Akira had finally finished their science project. The experiment itself was actually very simple; demonstrate capillary action by placing a piece of celery in a glass of water dyed with red food coloring, and then document the movement of the dye up into the vegetable. The whole thing would have been done a lot sooner, but Misao, ever the perfectionist, had insisted on taking precise measurements of the red spots that appeared in the celery, and had made Torako document them with an instant camera. Why was it that whenever she enjoyed something, every time she actually got to do it as more than just a hobby all the fun was sucked right out of it? There was a moment there when she felt about ready to smack Misao.

Still, the project was finally done, and Torako had to admit that the end result looked pretty good. There was no _way_ they wouldn't be getting a decent grade for this one.

Torako yawned and reached for her bookmark. It was getting near midnight, which meant it was about time for bed. As she changed into her pajamas Torako glanced at her schoolbag propped up against her desk, reminding herself for what seemed like the hundredth time that, yes, the finished project was securely tucked away inside. They'd all put a lot of work into it (albeit not exactly willingly, in her and Akira's case), and she didn't want anything to happen to it.

Though only slightly tired, she still yawned out of simple habit as she climbed into bed and pulled the comforter over herself. Rolling over onto her side to face the wall, she settled her head into her pillow and closed her eyes. Her bedding was still cool, but she knew her body heat would warm it up soon enough. She yawned again, closed her eyes, and let herself begin to drift into sleep.

A little after one in the morning, just over an hour after Torako had fallen asleep, her bedroom door swung quietly open.

--

**THE PRESENT DAY**

Yomi's window slid open and Tomo shoved the curtain aside with an angry swipe of her arm. As she sat on the sill and untied her shoes Yomi sighed.

"We _have_ a front door, you know."

Tomo didn't respond, just laid down on the bed with a heavy creak of metal springs.

Yomi closed her book, holding the place with her thumb, and turned her chair to face her. "Okay, what're you two fighting about this time?"

No answer; she just glared up at the ceiling.

"Well?"

"I don't know!" Tomo said finally, and waved her arms in a show of exasperation. "I just got mad at her!"

Yomi hung her head for a moment. "Tomo, she's your sister, not your girlfriend. She's allowed to see other people."

"That's not what this is about," Tomo said.

"Right," Yomi muttered and went back to reading. She was through arguing with her over this. Whether it was because Torako wasn't hanging out with her as much anymore, or because she was upset that she was already in a relationship while Tomo had yet to receive a single love letter, or whatever her reason was this time, Yomi didn't care anymore. If Tomo wanted to sulk on her bed fine, but that was where her hospitality ended.

"I broke her desk," Tomo said.

"I know that."

"No, I broke the new one too. She told me to help her put it together so I broke it."

Yomi turned to look at her. Tomo looked like she was trying very hard not to feel sorry for what she'd done. " . . . Why would you _do_ that?" she finally asked.

Tomo shrugged. "I don't know, I just got really mad all of a sudden. I didn't like how she was _ordering_ me to help her put that stupid thing together."

"Well you did wreck her old desk," Yomi pointed out.

"If she wants help so bad she can ask _Asagi._"

Yomi sighed and threw up her clenched hands. "I _knew_ it! Tomo, let it go! Asagi is not going to steal your sister away from you!"

"She never wants to do anything with me anymore!"

"That's because you make yourself such a pain in the ass to be around!" Yomi snapped. "I wouldn't want to do a whole lot with my sister _either_ if she was such an annoying loudmouthed _idiot!_" She knew she probably shouldn't have said that given Tomo's mood, but she didn't particularly care.

"You don't _have_ any sisters!"

"If! _If!_ Hypothetical!" Yomi specified. "Anyway you're blowing this way out of proportion."

"Your _ass_ is way out of proportion," Tomo muttered bitterly.

Yomi decided to let that one slide. For now. She didn't say anything, just went back to reading. After a few minutes Tomo _hmmphed _and turned to face the wall.

--

**FOUR YEARS PREVIOUS**

Their project had been perfect. It had been carefully typed up and printed out, the pages and photographs placed in a small binder. They had fully explained what capillary action was and how it was achieved by the water's attraction to the molecules in the plant's xylem, described how they would demonstrate it with a piece of celery, and then carefully documented the results. It was perfect.

And when Torako got it out of her schoolbag to turn it in, it was ruined. Every page had been glued together. She had immediately yelled at Tomo, and in turn got yelled at by the teacher. The entire rest of the day she had to endure Misao and Akira's angry glares, knowing full well that they blamed her and her failure to keep the project out of Tomo's reach on the failing grade they got on the assignment. After school she'd walked home fast, leaving her sister and Yomi behind, and when Tomo tried to catch up she turned and smacked her.

That night they argued. Tomo couldn't see why Torako was so upset about a simple prank, and Torako couldn't see why Tomo had such a hard time understanding how cruel her prank had been. They'd all worked so hard on it, had been so proud, and her friends had trusted _her_ with its safekeeping, and then Tomo had ruined all of that with one stick of glue. Finally her anger got the better of her and Torako screamed "I _hate _you, Tomo! Just leave me alone! I wish you were _dead!_"

Tomo had stared at her in shock for a moment, before her face turned angry and she screamed right back: "Well I hate you too! I hope you get _hit by a bus!_" Then she ran upstairs to her room, slamming the door hard enough to rattle the windows.

That had been three days ago. They were still fighting. Hostilities were no longer flaring up but they still simmered, smoldering under the surface. They walked to and from school on opposite sides of the street, no longer passed each other notes in class, and ate lunch at separate tables. If at all possible, they didn't even interact at home. Both were demanding an apology from the other that they knew would never come.

Torako sighed and looked in the mirror as she untied her ponytail. Her hair was getting pretty long, almost past her shoulderblades now. She sometimes wondered how it would look cut short, but she hated actually going to get her hair cut. She always got paranoid about losing part of an ear.

Still, long hair was awfully high-maintanance. Between them, she and Tomo went through so much shampoo that their mother had finally given up trying to share and got them each their own bottle to drain. As she squeezed the white shampoo into her palm, Torako wondered how long her sister was planning on dragging out this feud. She was getting sick of it, but she wasn't about to make any overtures of peace. It was all Tomo's fault, after all, so let _her_ be the one extending the olive branch.

That of course meant this fight could very well last forever.

Torako's thoughts were interrupted by the uncooperative shampoo. Why wasn't it lathering up at all? It just smeared around in her hair and felt slimy. She looked at her hands, smelled them, and then it hit her. This wasn't shampoo at all.

It was mayonnaise.

"_TOMOOOOOOO!!_"

--

**THE PRESENT DAY**

Torako crossed her arms and stepped back from the desk. It had taken her dad's power drill, some wood screws, a few nails, and some duct tape, but she'd finally managed to get her desk standing again. She'd probably want to add some wood blocks to make it more sturdy later on, but right now it seemed solid enough. She checked the clock and sighed. That had eaten up over an hour of her time, and it was getting dark out. Wanting nothing more right now than to be done with this stupid thing, Torako turned her radio to a rock station and began sorting the pieces for the hutch.

--

She was just straightening the finished desk against the wall when she heard a knock at her door. "Yeah," she said.

The door opened and Sato Takino stepped into her room. "How's the desk comin'?" he asked. "Oh hey, you're done."

Torako nodded. "Yeah. I would've been done sooner but Tomo broke the legs and I had to fix 'em."

Her father sighed and walked over to inspect the desk. "That girl and her moods . . . Well, it looks like you did a pretty good job of putting it together okay."

Torako nodded. "Yeah, I had to use your drill. I put it back when I was done."

Sato nodded. "Good girl." He turned away from the desk and put a hand on her shoulder. "Listen, don't let your sister get to you too much. I know she can be a real pain sometimes, but her heart's in the right place. Well, usually."

Torako put her hands in her pockets and shrugged. "I know, but she's just so _childish_. She gets so mad at me sometimes for the dumbest reasons."

"I know, it gets on my nerves sometimes too, listening to you have at it over nothing." He laughed. "Why do you think I smoke so much?"

Torako laughed too. _You and me both, dad._

Sato patted his daughter's shoulder. "Just remember that however much she gets on your nerves, she does love you, she just has some funny ways of showing it sometimes."

Torako sighed, crossed her arms, and nodded. "Yeah, I know. She just pisses me off so bad sometimes."

Sato laughed again. "Well, she's your sister. That's her job."

Torako smiled and nodded.

Sato headed for the door. "Well, I'll be out of your hair. Just wanted to see how you were comin' with that desk."

Torako nodded and pulled her chair over to the desk. She was setting her lamp down when her father left the room and closed the door behind him.

--

Tomo left Yomi's without saying goodbye. Yomi didn't seem to mind; she was used to Tomo's accidental rudeness by now. As she headed home Tomo looked up at the flaming clouds and cursed the world. There was a time when Yomi would take her side in her arguments with her sister. Now though, she just told her to grow up.

Well fuck that, she didn't _want_ to grow up. She wanted the old days back, when she and Torako did everything together. She didn't want things to change, she didn't want to become any more distant from Torako than she already had. She knew that she made it hard to be around her and she felt bad for that, but another part of her just didn't care, and felt that she shouldn't have to try to change to accommodate anyone.

As she reached her house she paused in the street and looked up at her sister's window. As she watched Torako walked past the window holding several books. She wondered if she'd gotten the desk back together and was stocking the hutch. She felt bad about jumping onto the desk like that, but dammit, Torako had it coming, ordering her around. It wasn't as though she'd _meant_ to break her old desk.

Tomo sighed and pushed open the gate.

--

**FOUR YEARS PREVIOUS**

Tomo sat down heavily on her bed and scowled at the floor between her feet. She didn't see why _she_ was being punished, Torako had started the fight. That was how it always went, one of them would say or do something, they'd start arguing, or in this case actually fighting, and they'd _both_ get sent to their rooms. It wasn't fair. So what if she'd elbowed Torako in the face and made her cry, she had it coming. And it wasn't like she'd _meant_ to, she was just trying to get out from under her. If she hadn't wanted to get hurt she shouldn't have started anything.

Tomo scootched back up onto the bed and pulled her knees up to her chin. She blinked sudden tears away and wrapped her arms around her legs. Stupid Torako. Why'd she have to be so mad? It'd only been a joke. If she'd known she'd be so upset she wouldn't have done it.

Why'd she have to say the things she said? Why'd she have to say she hated her? Why'd she have to say she wished she was dead? In all the times they'd argued Torako had never said those things to her before. Their parents had assured her that she didn't really mean them, and she knew they were right, but it still hurt.

She frowned and wiped at her eyes with the heel of her hand. Stupid tears. She looked at the wall separating her room from Torako's. Something was changing, she could feel it. Both their personalities were changing, becoming increasingly incompatible, and that scared her. Yomi may be her best friend but Torako was her twin sister, and the thought that the day might come when they would no longer be as close as they had been terrified her.

--

It was past one in the morning, and Torako was sound asleep when her bedroom door opened and Tomo crept into the room. Moving quietly, carefully so as not to wake her, she lifted the covers and crawled into Torako's bed. She knew she'd probably get yelled at in the morning, but she didn't care; she missed her sister, and wanted the two of them to be friends again.

As Tomo tried to get comfortable with a fraction of the mattress space she was used to she felt Torako roll over behind her and flop her arm over her. She made a little sound in her sleep as Tomo snuggled back against her, but she didn't wake up.

--

**THE PRESENT DAY**

Torako was surprised when Tomo walked into her room. Not surprised by her presence, but surprised that she'd actually _knocked._

"Hey," Tomo said.

"Hey," Torako said, and turned back to her homework.

"You got your desk up," Tomo said as she sat down on the bed.

Torako nodded but didn't say anything.

Tomo was quiet for a few minutes, looking around the room even though she knew every inch of it already.

"So um . . ." she finally said, "do you mind if I sleep here tonight?"

Torako turned her head to look at her. After a couple moments she shook her head and went back to her math assignment. "No, I don't mind."

Tomo smiled to herself then as she leaned over to pick up a photography magazine off the floor. Everything was going to be all right.

* * *

**-Author Notes-**

Oh snap, I was gone! Well it was only about a week, but it felt like a long time on my end. I was on vacation, you see. I got stranded on an island, there was a nasty car accident (thankfully I wasn't involved and just had to witness the aftermath), I had to kick a couple obnoxious drunks out of my friend's house, I got flashed by a drunk girl, and I learned that I hate beaches and boats. It was a pretty crazy week. Anyway, I'm back now, with a new chapter. A pretty long one, too. Dang.


	27. Back Off, I'll Take You On

Torako looked up from lighting her cigarette. "Hm?"

"Oh don't tell me you don't remember what happened next month last year," Asagi chided her.

Torako pocketed her lighter and shrugged.

Asagi sighed. "I first started eating lunch with you, you dunce!"

"Oh, right," Torako said mildly. "You know what _day_ that was? That's a little weird."

Asagi shrugged. "Well I _was_ stalking you, remember?" Then she shook her head. "No, I just know it was in May."

Torako nodded and blew a stream of smoke. "Ahh." She looked up at the cloudless sky. "A year, huh . . ."

"It's kinda weird looking back on it," Asagi mused. "Everything seemed to happen so fast."

"'Looking back on it' hell," Torako said, "_At the time _I thought it was weird how we were suddenly best buddies."

"Well that's because you're always so uptight," Asagi said in a needling tone. "You really need to learn to relax and go with the flow."

"In _my_ family?" Torako asked.

"Point taken." They walked a block before Asagi spoke again. "What're you doing today?"

Torako shrugged as she filled her lungs with carcinogens.

"Wanna come over?" They were nearing the point where they usually went their routes diverged.

Torako thought for a moment before she shrugged and exhaled smoke from her nostrils. "Sure, why not."

The corner came up, and Torako turned it with Asagi. As they walked she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket.

"Torako!" Tomo squawked into her ear.

She winced and held the phone away from her ear. "_What,_ don't shout."

"Is Van Damme's first name Van or Damn?"

Torako looked at the phone, then at Asagi, then at the phone again. "What?"

"Osaka thought it was Damn, but he's a foreigner, so it's Van, right? Yomi just said I was stupid when I asked her."

Torako sighed and closed the phone.

"What was that about?" Asagi asked.

Torako just shook her head as she pocketed the phone. They walked another block when it buzzed against her thigh again. She checked the ID and cursed. Tomo again.

"What," she said into the phone.

"Is Jackie Chan Blue Five?" Tomo asked without missing a beat.

" . . . _What?_"

"You know, his code name."

"Code name? What?"

"Y'know, like Bruce Lee."

Apparently Torako's baffled expression was amusing, because she heard Asagi giggle beside her.

"Well, is he Blue Five or not?" Tomo asked.

"You _are_ stupid," Torako said, and hung up on her again.

"What was _that_ about?" Asagi asked.

Torako shook her head and put the phone back in her pocket again. "Tomo."

Asagi nodded. "Ah."

--

Tomo looked at the phone in her hand before putting it back in her pocket. "She must not know either," she said.

Beside her Yomi slapped a hand to her forehead, and Chiyo debated whether or not to explain the truth.

--

"Ah, that was just what I needed," Asagi said contentedly and sat up on her bed. She stretched, though she wasn't stiff, and leaned down to scoop up her bra from the floor. As she put it on she looked back at Torako, still lying on her back and looking up at the ceiling. "What's with you?"

She shrugged. "Just thinking."

Asagi sighed. "Again?"

Torako rolled her eyes and sighed. Unlike Asagi, she wasn't naked; she still had her skirt and socks on. "Yes, _again,_" she said, more irritably than she'd meant to.

"_Ouch,_" Asagi grinned down at her, and poked one of her breasts with an index finger. "Somebody sounds crabby."

Torako covered her chest with an arm and rolled to face away from her.

"What, what is it?" Asagi asked as she continued getting dressed.

Torako shook her head and sighed again. "No, nothing, it's just . . . nothing." She heard a snap of elastic and then the bed moved as Asagi sat back down.

"Come on, what is it," Asagi pressed and trailed a finger down along Torako's arm. "I can't have my uke acting all mopey on me now, can I?"

Torako frowned a little, but didn't say anything.

Asagi sighed and turned away. "I keep forgetting you're a _girl_ sometimes," she said, then laughed as Torako reached up and smacked her. "Come on, _pleeeeeaaaaase?_" she cooed and got laid back down, putting an arm around her. "Tell me what's wrong," she said and licked her earlobe.

Torako suppressed the rush of exhilaration and sighed again. "It's just . . ." She hesitated, trying to find the right words to say. "Is this all there is?" She turned her head to look up at Asagi. "To us, I mean."

Asagi frowned. "How do you mean? Wasn't it good for you?"

Torako rolled onto her back. She felt silly, trying to discuss this as undressed as she was. "Yeah, it was," she said. "But sometimes it feels like . . . this is the only thing that's changed since you first kissed me."

Asagi looked like she was thinking something over before she finally answered. "And you want more than that?"

Torako covered her chest and shrugged. "Well, sometimes I do, but that's not really what this is about."

Asagi looked at her for a moment before the gears clicked and she nodded slowly. "Ohhh, _I_ get it." She leaned down and brushed Torako's hair away to look directly into her dark eyes. "Torako, you're more to me than just a fuckbuddy."

Torako nodded. "I guess I knew that, but it's nice to hear you say it."

Asagi smiled, kissed her, and then sat back up. "Feeling better?"

Torako nodded and sat up herself. She was looking for her own underwear when they both heard a blood-curdling scream from downstairs.

"What the hell was _that?"_ Torako asked.

Asagi shrugged and opened her closet. "Sounded like Fuuka." A moment later the doorknob rattled and someone knocked loudly.

"Asagi, Asagi!" It was Ena, and she sounded happy.

"What," Asagi called back.

"I caught a huge cricket! Come and see!"

"Just a minute," she said as Torako hurried to get her school uniform back on. As she stood up and made sure the damp spots on her skirt weren't too noticeable she frowned a little. _She didn't say what I wanted her to . . ._

--

"Torako! Torako, wake up!"

"Aagh, _what?_" Torako opened her eyes and rolled over to see Tomo kneeling by her bed. She didn't want to know what time it was.

"I had a nightmare."

Torako put a hand over her eyes and sighed. "Do you have to tell me about _every single one?_"

"This one was really bad though," Tomo insisted. "Me and Yomi were in love but all our friends hated us and you'd never been born and mom was dead and dad was in the military and I got hooked on all sorts of drugs and then Yomi killed herself and then _I _killed myself and then I woke up."

Torako sighed. "And you had to tell me all about it _now?_"

"It was scary."

"Well, are you doing drugs?"

Tomo shook her head.

"Do you really think your friends would hate you if you and Yomi fell in love?"

She shook her head again.

"And are either you or Yomi suicidal?"

More shaking of the head.

"Then you've got nothing to worry about," Torako said.

Tomo leaned over Torako's bed and hugged her before going back to her own room.

Torako sighed and tried to fall back asleep. Was she in _any_ of her sister's dreams? She wondered what someone into dream interpretation would have to say about that one.

--

As the toilet flushed, Torako straightened her skirt before unlatching the stall door and stepping out to wash her hands. She was rinsing the soap off her hands and thinking back to yesterday afternoon when she heard footsteps and felt someone standing behind her. She smelled cigarette smoke.

She grabbed a handful of paper towel, turned, and was looking into the face of a girl she'd never seen before. She was eyeing her rather intently.

"Hey you," the stranger said as soon as she'd turned around.

"What," Torako replied, instinctively switching into her _Don't mess with me_ mode. She knew a troublemaker when she saw one.

"You're Takino, right?" the girl asked as Torako took a step around her towards the door.

"Last time I checked." Torako didn't like this girl's look; she looked old, even older than her, though a glance at her shoes told her they were in the same grade. Her thin face looked unhealthy and almost sunken.

The girl laughed. "I heard about you. Heard you're a real badass."

Torako just sighed under her breath and wondered how rude she'd come off as if she just left right now. She had to get back to class, after all, and she doubted this person had anything to say that she'd find particularly interesting.

"I'm Hotei, I'm in class two." the girl said. No given name was offered, not that Torako was interested anyway. "I just transferred here last week."

Torako nodded and took another step toward the door. "Well, welcome to the school."

"So you're pretty tough, right?" Hotei asked as she was turning to go.

Torako tried not to look annoyed as she paused and turned. "I gotta get back to class," she said before turning to go, drying her hands as she headed for the door.

Hotei followed her. "Hey, I'm not done talking to you," she said in a tone bordering on hostile and grabbed her shoulder.

Torako looked back at her, and Hotei instinctively let go. As she pushed the door open and stepped out into the hall she felt herself smile a little. _I've still got it._

--

By lunchtime, Torako had almost forgotten about the incident in the girls' bathroom. By the time school let out for the day she'd forgotten it completely.

"Wanna come over today?" Asagi asked as she waited for her to finish tying her shoes.

Torako shook her head. "Can't, already got plans."

"You'd better not be cheating on me," Asagi threatened unconvincingly.

Torako just shook her head. "Seeing a movie with Tomo and Yomi."

Asagi sighed. "Well, I guess that's okay. What movie?"

Torako shrugged as she stood up with her bag. "Don't know yet."

"Probably something violent, knowing you and Tomo-chan," Asagi said as they headed for the doors.

As Torako put a cigarette between her lips and got out her lighter she noticed Asagi looking at her intently.

"What."

Asagi shrugged and looked away. "Nothing, I was just wondering how you can see with all that hair in your eyes."

Torako didn't think it was that bad, but she brushed her hair to the sides anyway. Most of it just fell back in front of her face.

"I don't mind if you grow your hair out, but you should at least trim it in the front," Asagi said.

"I'm not _growing it out,_" Torako said, "I just haven't gotten it cut in a while." She and her sister usually got haircuts at the same time, so hers was getting to be as long as Tomo's. Tomo said it made her "quite the sexy beast" (as inappropriate as being called that by her own sister felt), but after being so used to having her hair short she thought it just looked weird. She probably would get it cut soon, she'd always thought short hair suited her better anyway.

--

Tomo had apparently stopped at Yomi's on the way home, because when they walked in the front door the taller girl had already changed out of her school clothes. Torako glanced away from the TV as she sat down at the other end of the couch while Tomo ran upstairs to change. "Hey," she said.

"Hey," Yomi said.

They watched the television in silence for a minute, before Yomi spoke again. "So how are things with you and Asagi?"

Torako shrugged. "They're good."

Yomi nodded. "That's good." She sounded a little uncomfortable, and when Torako looked over at her she looked like she wanted to say something else but couldn't.

"Something wrong?"

Yomi smiled and shook her head. "Oh, no, everything's fine."

Torako nodded and looked back at the TV.

Yomi was opening her mouth to say something else when Tomo came galumphing down the stairs, carrying a pillow.

"Tora-chan, Tora-chan, stand up."

"Why?" Torako asked, but stood anyway.

"Put this in your shirt," Tomo said then, pushing the pillow at her.

"What?" Torako looked at Yomi, who just shrugged. "Why?"

"Just do it!"

Torako sighed, took the pillow, and stuffed it up under her shirt, making no attempt at symmetry or proper placement. "There, happy?" she asked. _This is stupid._

Tomo turned to Yomi and pointed. "It's Sakaki!"

Yomi sighed, and Torako took the pillow out and smacked her sister with it.

* * *

**-Author Notes-**

This chapter was a freakin' bitch and a half to write, and I'm still not sure the majority of it isn't garbage. Parts I like though. I might add to/revise it sometime, we'll see.

While writing this I thought to myself, _Man, Torako sure is being angsty here._ Then I remembered _she's a teenage girl,_ so, yeah.

The "Van Damme" joke in the English version of the manga didn't make a lot of sense to me, what with Tomo assuming "Van" is Van Damme's family name since he's a foreigner, even though _she's_ the one from a culture that puts the family name before the given name. So I changed the confusion to the first name here. You got a problem with it? Yeah, I didn't _think_ so.


	28. Pull the Trigger and the Nightmare Stops

Torako made an annoyed groaning noise and waved her hand over her face, but whatever it was that had been poking her cheek just did it again. She made a louder noise and waved her hand more emphatically, and then her mind began to wake up. With a tired and put-upon sigh she opened her eyes and turned her head, ready to tell off her sister for waking her up.

The words died en route from her larynx, and only a quiet croaking sound escaped from her lips. Two people were standing over her bed, one short, the other taller, and they were both wearing black ski masks. The thing that had been poking her in the cheek was the muzzle of an assault rifle.

Torako didn't dare move. Her eyes flitted between the two masked faces, then at the rifle with its bright orange-painted muzzle. Who were these people, and what were they doing in her house? What about her family, were they okay? What were they going to do with her? What did they want? How did they . . . wait a minute, _orange-painted muzzle?_

She was looking at the gun pointing at her when the shorter intruder began to splutter and giggle. She knew that laugh anywhere: "God _dammit_ mom!" Torako scolded and sat up. The other person lowered the weapon and started laughing too as they both pulled off their ski masks.

"Ha ha ha, you should've seen your face!" Nao said with a grin. "You looked about ready to wet yourself!"

"Sorry Torako," the tall, skinny man standing next to her said, "it was all her idea." Despite the apology, Toshiro Ryuuno was grinning, and obviously trying not to laugh.

Nao gave her brother a little shove. "Yeah, but _you_ were the one who provided the props."

Torako looked at the M4 in her uncle's hands. It looked real enough, but the bright orange muzzle was a dead giveaway that it wasn't the genuine article. _Probably Airsoft or paintball or something,_ she thought. "When did you get here?" she asked.

Toshiro slung the rifle over his shoulder and stepped back so Torako could get to her feet. "This morning," he said. "Barely an hour ago, actually."

Torako nodded that she'd heard and rubbed at her face. She was still tired, but that scare had woken her up too much to get back to sleep any time soon. She was sighing and putting her feet on the floor when both she and her uncle jumped involuntarily.

"_TORAKO TAKINO!_"

They both turned their heads to see her mother standing beside her desk, an enraged expression on her face. In her hand she held a half-empty pack of cigarettes.

_Oh shit._ Torako felt the blood drain from her face as a cold tingle of fear ran through her body. _Idiot!_ She'd left her smokes out last night. Growing up, she and her sister had been told on many occasions and in no uncertain terms that if their mother caught them smoking underage she would remove them from this world just as she'd brought them into it. It didn't exactly need to be said that she doubted her mother would actually _kill_ her, but even so she dreaded to think of what punishments she might come up with.

She was just starting to splutter out a futile "Those aren't mine!" when Toshiro stepped forward and plucked the cigarettes from Nao's hand.

"Ah, those would be mine," he said and put them in his pocket.

Nao looked up at her brother. "Bull _shit,_" she accused.

Toshiro shrugged. "What? I set 'em there when we snuck in here."

Nao looked at her daughter; Torako prayed that she didn't look as guilty and nervous as she felt. Finally her mother turned to her uncle, muttered something abot not leaving his things laying around, and left the room. It was only after her uncle had followed her out of the room and closed the door behind himself that Torako realized he still had her smokes.

_Ah well,_ she thought, _let him keep them._ Payment for saving her ass there. She tossed her blanket aside, stood, stretched, and went to take a piss and a shower. She was just undressing for the latter when the door rattled and then shook from the repeated impact of a fist.

"Hey Tora-chan, lemme in!" Tomo ordered from the other side.

"No, I'm about to take a shower!"

"Well that's what _I'm_ here to do, we can share."

Torako sighed. "Come on, just wait your turn," she said.

The door shook again. "_Dammit_ Takino, _open this door!_

"Just let her in," she heard their mother call from the living room, "I don't want to listen to her throw a bitch-fit out here!"

Torako sighed and unlocked the bathroom door, and almost immediately Tomo was in and pulling her pajama top over her head. "_Somebody's_ crabby this morning."

"You would be too if you woke up with a gun in your face and nearly got busted for smoking," Torako said as she unbuttoned her own top.

Tomo laughed. "Oh yeah, they told me about that, they said you-OW!" She turned to glare at Torako as she reached a hand back to rub between her shoulder blades where she'd snapped her bra.

"What?" Torako asked. "Shut up."

--

After Torako had finished her shower, went back upstairs to get dressed, and then went back _down_stairs to eat breakfast, there was a big box sitting on the coffee table. Tomo was on the couch tearing into a similar one, while Nao looked at her brother disapprovingly.

"What's this?"

Toshiro pointed at the box on the table. "Open it."

Torako was picking up the box as Tomo reached into hers and pulled out an assault rifle. "AWESOME!"

Torako paused and stared. Tomo holding a gun was a very unsettling sight, orange muzzle or not. She tore the tape off her own box, opened the flaps, and reached inside to touch cold metal. It felt like aluminum, probably pretty cheap. She pulled her hand out, bringing with it an avalanche of styrofoam packing peanuts and a strange, boxy-looking submachine gun. She couldn't recall what it was called, but she remembered seeing one on TV and thinking it looked very badass.

"I still say I don't want them playing with guns," Nao said with crossed arms.

Toshiro just shrugged. "What, they're fun. And besides, it's not like they can shoot real bullets, and I'll teach them proper safety procedures."

Tomo pointed her gun at Torako and made a sound to mimic automatic gunfire.

--

"You're just full of surprises, aren't you?"

Torako leaned against the side of her uncle's minivan and looked at Asagi. "What?"

Asagi smiled. "Oh, I just didn't know you and Tomo-chan were into paintball."

"We're _not,_" Torako sighed. "But our uncle's been getting into it, and whenever he gets a new hobby he's always gotta try to convert everyone else."

"Hey, at least it gets you trying new things," Toshiro said as he and Tomo came out through the gate. "Everybody here?"

"We're picking up Oikawa at her place," Torako said as she waited for Yomi and Asagi to climb into the vehicle. Tomo had called shotgun twenty minutes in advance, as usual.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Toshiro said. "Hey." He tossed something to her, and Torako caught her cigarettes from that morning. "I took one, hope you don't mind. Be more careful next time, okay?"

Torako nodded and got into the minivan. She slid the door closed and buckled in, and then they were off.

"I haven't got guns for all you guys," Toshiro said as he turned a corner, "but they'll have stuff we can rent when we get there."

"Great," Yomi said. She didn't sound especially enthusiastic; when Tomo had invited her along, it had sounded like Yomi hadn't wanted to accept, and in the end she'd threatened to spill some juicy secrets at school the next day to get her to come. Torako wondered what plans she was giving up to accompany them.

Torako glanced over at Asagi as she was leaning forward and pointing at which turn to take next. At least _she_ seemed to be looking forward to this hastily planned outing.

"Okay," Tomo announced, turning in her seat to look at the other passangers, "time to divide into teams! Me, Tora-chan, and Yomi on one side, and everyone else on the other."

"Ex_cuse_ me?" Torako asked.

"Hey now," Toshiro said, "don't just declare it like that. And you should let Torako be on the same team as her friends."

"Yeah, why should Yuko-chan and I get teamed up with someone we've never met before?" Asagi asked. "Uh, no offense."

"None taken. This turn here?" He took the minivan down another street. "Tomo, you and Yomi are with me. You'll stand a better chance at winning that way anyway."

"He's right, you know," Yomi said. "He's the only one here with actual military training."

Torako _almost_ mentioned all the war movies she'd seen growing up, but even before she'd finished opening her mouth to speak she realized how stupid that would sound and decided against it.

"Oh, that's the place there," Asagi said, leaning forward again and pointing. Sure enough, there was the Oikawa residence, and there was Yuko waiting by the front gate. When she saw them approach and slow down, she closed the book she was reading and put it into her bag.

"Ready to get _shot_ today?" Asagi asked as Oikawa climbed aboard and joined Yomi in the rearmost seat.

"Oh yeah, it's my life's dream," Oikawa said. "Once we get home I'll probably hang myself in my closet, since I'll have nothing left to live for."

Asagi laughed. "Yuko-chan, I'm starting to wonder if you and Torako aren't starting to feed off each other's sarcasm."

--

Sure enough, the paintball court had everything they needed, provided they pay the fee, and it wasn't long before everyone was fully decked out with a weapon and the required safety gear. Due to his experience Toshiro naturally appointed himself the leader of his group (though Tomo had tried to take that position for herself), and Torako was chosen to lead hers, mainly just because she looked like she'd be the most competent at this sort of thing. (_Looked_ being the operative word, as she pointed out, but Asagi would have none of that and ordered her to be the leader.)

Torako pushed any doubts out of her mind and focused on the matter at hand. The enemy was somewhere in these woods, lurking in wait. Though there were only three of them they were highly skilled, and their leader was said to be nigh unstoppable. They were bent on the destruction of the entire Japanese archipelago, and all that stood between them and their genocidal goal were her and her two trusted commandos.

At least, that was the story that her uncle had rattled off when Tomo had demanded a scenario.

Torako poked her head above the wooden barrier. She didn't see anyone, but that didn't necessarily mean it was clear. She didn't feel safe moving across this clearing, but she saw a rusty old dumpster laying on its side and an old refrigerator that they could use as cover; if someone didn't know this was a paintball course and all these pieces of junk were supposed to be there, they'd probably be scratching their heads as to how all these things got way out here in the woods.

She ducked back down and looked at her two teammates. "Okay," she said quietly, her voice further muffled by her plastic facemask, "I'm going to go first while you two cover me. Once I get to the dumpster, Asagi follows me. Then I head for the fridge, and Oikawa, you join Asagi at the dumpster. Then Asagi joins me at the fridge, and finally Oikawa. Understand?"

They nodded, and she hoped they understood. _Of course they do,_ she thought as she crept to the edge of the barrier. _I'm too used to working with idiots like Tomo._ "Ready?"

Asagi and Oikawa both poked their heads and their guns up over the barrier. "Ready," the former said.

_Here goes,_ Torako thought, and took off for the dumpster. She was almost halfway there when something small and yellow flicked through her field of vision, and she heard several popping sounds from her teammates' position as they returned fire. Then she was behind the dumpster, catching her breath before waving for Asagi to follow and putting her gun up.

There was no hostile fire this time; it was probably Tomo that had shot at her then, getting overly excited and taking a few potshots before they were supposed to spring the ambush. Torako heard quick footsteps behind her, and then Asagi was crouching down in the grass beside her.

"Well we know they're out there," she said. "Probably waiting for us all to get to the fridge, it's not exactly good cover." She motioned for Asagi to get into position, then looked back at Oikawa to make sure she was ready. "This should be fun," she muttered, and then she was sprinting again. She'd barely left cover when she heard paintballs smacking against the side of the dumpster and the frantic pops as her teammates tried to cover her. She expected to feel the stinging slap as she was tagged at any moment, but somehow she made it to the fridge.

_This is stupid,_ she thought as she crouched down and readied her weapon. _Two of their guns can fire full-auto, those crap rentals can't keep up._ Of course, she reminded herself, she could hose out paintballs too.

As she'd expected, Oikawa made it to the dumpster unmolested, and then Asagi was running for the fridge. Almost immediately she was under fire, and Torako was firing into the trees where she thought the paintballs were coming from. Dammit, real guns had muzzle blasts and loud noises to give them away, these damn toys gave her nothing to work with. Still, she was able to suppress their fire long enough for Asagi to reach her. She wasn't sure Oikawa's shots had been anywhere close; she wondered who the genius was that had designed their guns without _sights._

She heard rustling from the trees, and fired off a burst when she saw movement. Then all hell broke loose.

Apparently Oikawa had taken that as a signal to move, because she was charging forward before they were ready. Torako was shouting at her to wait, for all the good it would do (absolutely none) and Asagi was getting her weapon over the fridge when the opposing team fired at all of them at once. Torako guessed Yomi was going after her, since she actually had time to duck. If whoever was shooting at her could go full-auto, her facemask would have been rendered opaque. Behind her Oikawa yelped as red, yellow, and green splotches appeared almost simultaneously all across her chest, and Asagi swore as she ducked her head down just in time to avoid catching several paintballs in the face.

_Shit!_ Torako crouched down as the already splattered refrigerator was given a new coat.

"What now, fearless leader?" Asagi asked sarcastically.

Torako poked up, fired a burst across the line of trees, and ducked back down. "Well we can't run for it, there's nowhere to run _to._ But we can't just sit here either."

"I know all that," Asagi said. Torako couldn't see the lower half of her face beneath the protective mask, but her eyes were smiling.

She looked around for anything that could give her an idea. Finally she looked at the fridge. It was lying with the front side facing down. "Hey," she said.

"What?"

Torako handed Asagi her weapon. "Here, keep them behind the trees. I've got an idea." Before Asagi could respond Torako grabbed the edge of the fridge, took several breaths, and started lifting. Or at least, trying to lift.

"Are you stupid?" Asagi asked. "You can't lift a _fridge,_ you'll hurt yourself!"

"Shut up and keep them in the trees!" Torako grunted as she felt the fridge begin to raise off the ground. Man _alive_ it was heavy. Her arms and back were crying out in pain, but she forced herself to ignore them as she got it up far enough to prop her elbows on her knees. Asagi had to half-stand now to fire over it. Finally it felt as if all the weight had gone out of it, and the fridge toppled over onto its side with a heavy _thud._ Torako allowed herself a moment to rest before she took her gun back and reloaded it.

As she expected, the doors had been removed in order to prevent accidental suffocation in case anyone ever actually tried this. "Okay, now get in," she said. It was a tight squeeze, but she and Asagi just _barely_ fit inside.

Leaning against the dumpster, Oikawa watched them with a confused look on her face. "What are you two _doing?_" she said to herself.

"Not that . . . _urf_ . . . not that I don't mind having you pressed up against me," Asagi said uncomfortably, "but why are we doing this?"

Torako watched her side of the fridge. "Because now if they want us, they have to come and get us. And they can't do _that_ without walking directly into our sights."

It was several minutes before they heard the rustle of vegetation. Soon Torako heard footsteps, slow and cautious, approaching her end of the fridge. She readied her weapon. _Gotta be fast now,_ she thought.

She saw a foot. Just the toe, but she recognized the scuffed white rubber of her sister's sneakers.

Tomo stepped into view, and she fired.

"Hey, ow, no faaaaaair!" Tomo yelled as she took the burst in the chest and fell on her ass. She doubted there was enough force behind those paintballs to actually knock her down, but then Tomo _was_ a bit of a drama queen. Behind her Torako heard Asagi pop off a few rounds as well.

"Ah, dammit!" It was Yomi's voice.

Torako climbed out of the fridge and looked around. She didn't see her uncle; probably still in the woods. She glanced over at Tomo; she'd taken her facemask off, and was grinning at her victoriously.

"You think you're so smart? We'll still win this thing!" she taunted. Torako shot her a few more times. "Hey! Yomi, shoot her!"

Yomi crossed her arms and shrugged. "I'm out too."

"Just go sit with Oikawa, we'll finish this," Torako said with her eyes on the trees.

Tomo glared at her before finally stomping off towards the dumpster.

It seemed like a good twenty minutes (though it couldn't have been more than five or ten) before they heard a shout from within the trees.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming out! I surrender!"

"Oh, _come on!_" Tomo shouted from behind them.

The underbrush moved, and Toshiro stepped out into the open, holding his arms wide and his gun at arm's length. Torako shot him three times in the chest.

"Hey _asshole,_ I surrendered!"

Torako shrugged and stood up. "You've pulled dirty tricks on us before."

Toshiro let his arms fall to the side and nodded. "True, true. Let's go, it's getting buggy. And I'm hungry." As they all got moving he pointed a finger at Torako. "Next time I visit, we're having a rematch. Your bony ass is going _down,_ girly."

Torako just nodded and lit a cigarette. She knew the next time her uncle visited he'd have picked up some new hobby to try to get them into. She was blowing the first puff of smoke when she felt something slap into her ass and jumped. Tomo's laughter turned to cries of pain and outrage as Torako whirled around and sprayed paintballs at her.

* * *

**-Author-**

Holy flaming Norwegian crap, this chapter took _forever_ to get rolling. A bitch of a work week, sleep deprivation, and starting two new writing projects did not make this any easier to write.

I've never paintballed, so I'm sure this will enrage any hardcore paintballers who may be reading with its wildly inaccurate portrayal of the sport. Pasttime. Hobby. Whatever it is. Please be merciful in your righteous anger, I mean no offense.

What's that? Rushed ending? I don't know _what_ you're talking about.


	29. This is Getting Out of Hand

Torako and Toshiro both rolled their eyes.

"What?" Asagi asked. "You really _do_ look a lot alike."

Toshiro shrugged and unwrapped his hamburger. "People tell us that, but we don't really see it."

"And it gets old after a while," Torako added. "Do you know how many times I've been mistaken for this guy's daughter, or his _sister?_" She sighed quietly and picked up her own burger. After leaving the paintball course Toshiro had decided to treat them all to dinner, so they were now occupying a table at Magnetron Humburger.

Oikawa laughed suddenly, then winced and coughed as Coke went up her nose. "Agh . . . burns . . ."

"Well you _do_ look like you could be in college," Yomi said. She was holding her teriyaki burger, but she had yet to actually take a bite.

"Yeah," Tomo said, "and by the time she's in college she'll look middle-aged!" Suddenly she wailed and slumped over against Yomi.

"What?" Torako asked when all eyes converged on her.

"So anyway," Toshiro finally said, "what's this I hear about you two going to different schools now?"

Yomi spoke up before anyone else could. "Tomo heard I was getting into a prestigious high school, so _she_ got into it too just to piss me off." She sounded almost bitter about it.

"Well the way you said I didn't have a chance, I just _had_ to prove you wrong," Tomo said, then turned to her uncle. "So yeah, I studied my ass off and got in."

Toshiro nodded. "See Tomo, I've always told you you're smarter than you give yourself credit for, you just need to put forth a little effort." Then he directed his eyes across the table at his other niece.

Torako shrugged. "Couldn't be bothered," she said around a mouthful of teriyaki burger. "Besides, my school's a lot closer and this way I actually get a break from that lunatic."

"I could probably use you to help keep her in line though," Yomi said. "Though I certainly can't blame you for bailing out when you had the chance."

"Hey come on!" Tomo looked back and forth between her friend and her sister with a wounded expression. "Don't act like I'm a huge pain to be around!"

"Why not?" Torako asked. "You _are,_ sometimes."

"It's true," Yomi agreed, and Toshiro nodded.

Asagi spoke up before the situation got too awkward for her and Oikawa. "Ah, anyway, if Torako had gone to Tomo-chan's school, then we'd never have met, so I'd say it all turned out well."

Tomo apparently forgot about acting the innocent victim as she grinned mischievously at Asagi and Torako. "_Yeah,_ I'll _bet_ you'd think it-OW!!"

Everyone looked at Torako. "What?"

--

Torako yawned and began buttoning up her pajama top. She was still a little sore from lifting that fridge and that post-battle shootout with her sister, and a hot bath was just what she needed. Now with that out of the way, the thing she needed was a comfortable bed and a nice long sleep, both of which were waiting for her upstairs.

After putting on her pajamas, she stepped out of the bathroom and headed for the stairs. She was yawning again when someone stepped up behind her, slid their arms up under hers, got their hands behind her head, and put her in a Full Nelson lock.

"Ow, what the hell?!" Torako said as she was pulled down backwards by the weight of her shorter assailant. She was beginning to demand her immediate release when her arms were yanked back and her head was pushed forward and down painfully. "AaaaaAAAAAAOOWW!"

Her mother leaned her head in close to speak. "Are you listening to me?"

"Ow, dammit mom, this really hurts!"

Nao shrugged. "Good, then I've got your attention. Now you listen to me very carefully, Torako: If I _ever_ find so much as a _single cigarette_ in your room again, I will make you wish that Tomo had _eaten you alive_ while you two were gestating inside me, do you understand?"

"Ow! Yeah, yeah, I understand! Just let me go!" The hold released, and Torako staggered forward rubbing at her sore neck. She turned to look at her mother.

"Well, sleep tight," Nao said brightly and headed for the kitchen where her husband and brother were laughing. Torako watched her go, stared at the empty doorway, and finally turned back to the stairs. _Like I'm gonna get any sleep NOW . . ._

--

Torako was trying not to fall asleep in her chair when someone knocked on her desk. "Uh?" She opened her eyes, yawned, and looked up to see Ikue Ohzawa standing over her. "Yeah?" she said, making sure to sound like she couldn't care less.

"Hey, what'd you do to piss off Hotei, anyway?"

Torako straightened. "I don't even know who that is."

"Aya Hotei? Class two, transferred here last week?"

Torako thought for a moment, then suddenly remembered her encounter with the ugly girl last Friday. "Oh, right, her." She shrugged. "She was buggin' me in the girls' bathroom and I had to get back to class." _You're hanging with that goon now?_

Ohzawa glanced towards the door. "Well, whatever you did, she doesn't seem to like you much now."

"Well there goes _my_ self esteem," Torako muttered sarcastically.

Ohzawa shrugged. "Just thought I'd let you know, since she's been talking about starting a gang at this school like she had at her last one."

"And that concerns me _how?_"

Ohzawa shrugged. "Well, she's looking to build a reputation, and since you're considered one of the toughest girls here . . ."

Torako rolled her eyes and sighed disgustedly. "Listen, you tell your new buddy I've got no intention of wasting my time with a bunch of punks."

Ohzawa nodded and stepped back away. "I'll let her know," she said and headed back to her own desk.

Torako sighed and put her head down. Great, that was just what she needed, some other idiot wanting to start shit with her. She was just starting to doze when a pen tapped her on the head.

"Nooooo sleepiiiiinnnnnggg!"

"Yeah, yeah . . ." She turned in her chair blinked tiredly at Asagi as she slid into the seat behind her. At the start of the year Kaizano-sensei had allowed the class to choose their own seats, so they had naturally taken adjacent desks.

"What did _she_ want?" Asagi asked with a suspicious glance toward Ohzawa.

Torako shook her head. "More bullshit," she muttered.

Asagi rested her head on her hand. "Oh?"

Across the room Sasaki picked something out of her nose and wiped it on the bottom of her chair, while Otomo festidiously organized her things on her desk.

Torako yawned. "It's not important, forget it." She turned to face forward and rested her chin in her palm.

Asagi shrugged and put the end of her pen between her teeth. Suddenly she grinned and tapped the back of Torako's shoulder with it, leaving little spots of slobber on her collar. "Hey. Hey. Hey hey hey hey hey."

Torako turned back around. "_What._"

"My birthday's coming up."

Torako realized she'd never found out when Asagi's birthday _was._ "Oh?" she said. "When?"

Asagi beamed. "Next Saturday. You'd better get me something nice."

"Greedy much?" Torako asked.

Asagi just shrugged as the bell rang and Kaizano-sensei strolled into the room.

--

Torako was leaning against a tree in the school's courtyard and cracking her can of juice when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye and looked up. _Aw, crap._ It was Hotei, along with Ohzawa and two other flunkies. Aside from Ohzawa they all looked absurdly stereotypical of female delinquents, with their loose socks, unknotted scarves, untucked shirts, and hiked-up skirts. Torako thought they all looked like children trying too hard to look tough.

"Hey Takino," Hotei said jovially.

"Hello," Torako said and took a sip of orange juice. She glanced at Asagi and Oikawa at the vending machine, then up at the clock above the door. Another fifteen minutes left in the lunch hour.

"So Ikue-chan here tells me you don't want to join my gang," Hotei said with a nod toward Ohzawa.

Torako nodded. "S'right."

Hotei crossed her arms. "You got something against me?"

Torako just sighed.

Hotei took a step towards her. "I asked you a question, Takino."

Torako straightened and took a step of her own. "Do you think you can intimidate me?" She glanced beyond Hotei at her three mooks. Ohzawa looked like she wanted to be elsewhere, and the two strangers looked apprehensive; she'd never even seen them before, but they'd obviously heard about her. Or at least, they'd heard the _stories,_ however exaggerated they might be.

She took another step forward, and she was face to face with Hotei. "You know," she said, "I am _really_ sick of punks like you deciding to be my enemy." She took another step, and Hotei had to move back to keep from being knocked over. "So if you want to hate me because I won't join your stupid little gang, fine. Just as long as you do it from a distance, understand?"

Hotei shook her head. "I'm not afraid of you, Takino."

Torako took another step forward, and Hotei took another step back. "Then why are you backing down?"

They stared each other down for several long minutes before Hotei turned back to her three minions. "Ah, I don't need losers like you anyway. Everybody's seen how you let Ayase there lead you around on a leash."

Torako watched them go, then almost felt herself sag as the tough facade dropped. She sighed and looked over at Asagi and Oikawa as they approached.

"Who _was_ that?" Asagi asked.

Torako shrugged and sipped her juice. "Oh, some new transfer student from class two. For some reason she thinks we're rivals."

"You gonna fight her?" Oikawa asked.

Torako sighed and headed for the door. "I don't _know,_" she said in a sufficiently irritated tone to convince them to drop the subject.

--

Torako had half expected Hotei to pop out of a locker at her or something at the end of the day, but she and Asagi were able to leave the school unmolested.

"Don't make any plans for Saturday night," Asagi said as they left the school grounds.

"Do I want to know why?" Torako asked as she got out a cigarette.

"Because you're spending the night at my place!" Asagi said with a grin.

Based on that alone Torako had a pretty good idea of what she had in mind, but she kept that to herself.

"So what's up between you and that Hotei girl?" Asagi asked.

Torako sighed and blew a thin stream of smoke. "I don't even know. I've never even _seen_ that idiot before last Friday."

"Well she certainly seems to have it in for you," Asagi said.

Torako shook her head and looked at the cigarette in her hand. "Some people are just like that, anyone who won't immediately roll over they see as a potential enemy." She took another drag, held it for a second, and exhaled. "A thousand yen says she moved out of a ghetto neighborhood coming here."

"You think she'll try to fight you?" Asagi sounded a little worried. Torako hadn't exactly come out of her last fight looking like a hundred million yen.

Torako sighed and shrugged. "It wouldn't surprise me. I'm not worried though."

Asagi smiled and held up a fist defiantly. "Yeah, you're not afraid of _anyone,_ are you?"

Torako put the cigarette between her lips and thought. "Well, my mom can be pretty intimidating if you piss her off. And Yomi can be pretty scary too . . ."

"That was a rhetorical question," Asagi said with a sigh.

"Oh, well in that case no."

* * *

**-Author Notes-**

Yay, another relatively short chapter that doesn't really go anywhere. Shut it, I been gettin' my ass kicked by life for the past week. Hopefully _something_ will happen next chapter. Whenever I can actually _write_ it. Writer's block is a _bitch._

Darg.


	30. Waking Up to Your Sound Again

"Hey, what would happen if you ate this?"

Torako looked up from her lunch to see Yomi reaching across the table. Between her chopsticks was a piece of fish.

She shook her head and looked back down. "Something bad," she said.

Beside her Tomo spoke up. "She's allergic," she said, though they both knew Yomi already knew that. "The last time she ate fish she got sick."

"How sick?" Yomi asked and pulled her hand back.

Torako shrugged and took a bite of her chicken. "Don't remember, it was a long time ago. But I haven't eaten fish since."

Yomi smirked. "So you don't know if you're still allergic or not?"

Torako turned her eyes up and looked at her.

Yomi reached across the table again, this time with an evil smile on her face. She didn't show that smile often, but when she did it usually meant somebody was about to suffer. "Dare ya," she said.

"Don't do it," Misao warned.

"Do I _look_ stupid?" Torako asked.

"Oh, are you scared?" Yomi asked.

"Of dying?" Torako turned her eyes up to the ceiling as if thinking it over. "Yes, I think I am."

"C'mon," Yomi cooed, "it's just a little piece. What harm could it do?"

Torako just looked at her. Tomo and Misao just chewed and watched them.

"Cowaaaaaard," Yomi taunted.

Finally Torako gave her a disgusted look and plucked the fish away with her own chopsticks. "If I die it's on your head," she warned before popping the fish into her mouth, chewing, and swallowing.

They all sat in silence for several tense moments before Yomi finally spoke again. "Anything?"

Torako waited a moment before answering. "My mouth feels a little tingly," she said. "But it could just be my-AAAAH!" Before she could finish the sentence her stomach cramped up, forcing her to drop her chopsticks and double over the cafeteria table.

"Tora-chan!" Tomo shouted. "Are you okay?"

"No I'm not okay!" Torako said, sounding angrier than she'd meant. She tried to straighten, but the pain was too great. Her hand clenched on the table, gripping the edge with white knuckles. "This really . . . ow, it hurts!"

On the other side of her Misao was pointing at her face. "T-Torako! You're swelling up!"

Across the table Yomi just watched in horror.

"Tomo . . ." Torako found herself wheezing; suddenly it was getting hard to breathe. "I . . . I need . . ." She was suddenly acutely aware of how strange her breathing suddenly sounded. She heard people starting to ask if she was alright, but she was too dizzy and confused to pay attention.

A thousand miles away Tomo was shouting at someone to get a teacher, and then everything went fuzzy and black.

When it had happened five years ago in middle school, Torako had regained consciousness in a hospital emergency room with a doctor shining a light in her eyes. After a stern warning to keep her medication with her at all times she'd been wheeled out to find Tomo and Yomi waiting in the hallway, along with her parents. They'd all looked nervous but Yomi was an absolute wreck; apparently she'd convinced herself that Torako was dying, and that it was all her fault.

When she woke up this time around she found herself lying in a bed that wasn't hers, wondering why she'd dreamed of _that_ pleasant little memory.

Apparently she'd stirred as she awakened, because the arm around her tightened and she felt a warm body pressing against her back as Asagi hugged her close in her sleep. Torako looked out the window at the pre-dawn gloom outside and listened to Asagi breathing against the back of her neck.

The day before had been Asagi's seventeenth birthday. After agonizing for what seemed like an eternity, with Yomi's help (and a fair bit of good-natured ribbing) Torako was finally able to pick out a necklace she thought she'd like. As it turned out though it wouldn't have mattered _what_ she'd gotten her, because Asagi had something else in mind already anyway.

That night, after Oikawa had gone home and everyone had settled in for the night, Asagi locked her bedroom door, pushed Torako to the bed, and stripped her naked. Then, using the strap-on she'd bought the year before, she took her virginity as a birthday gift.

_Was that all right?_ she thought as she watched the sky slowly grow brighter, so gradually she barely even noticed. _Was that really all right?_

She'd been frightened at first, terrified. It had hurt, and she'd genuinely wanted Asagi to stop. But at the same time . . .

She sighed and closed her eyes. _What kind of a pervert am I?_ she thought. _How messed up do you have to be to_ enjoy_ someone doing that to you?_ She felt Asagi stir in her sleep. _And what kind of a sicko is_ she, _to enjoy _doing_ that to me? Would she have done that to anyone else? What if I'd started crying? If I'd screamed and fought back?_

She turned her face into the pillow and groaned. Asagi had used her, and she'd let herself be used. What kind of a twisted relationship was this turning into?

--

When Torako woke up again the sun was shining, she was on the futon they'd set out on the floor, and she was wearing her pajamas. After all, it wouldn't exactly lead to jubilation if Mrs. Ayase or, god forbid, Fuuka or Ena were to barge in and find her naked in Asagi's bed.

Everyone was already eating breakfast by the time she got downstairs.

* * *

**-Author Notes-**

Holy crap! A new chapter! Darg. Okay.

I'd meant there to be longer, but a whole lot of shit (sleep deprivation, writer's block, my work schedule being fucked up, and a series of motivation-draining ideas discarded after a few paragraphs) has been completely draining any energy I had to devote to this, so I figured I might as well put up what I had. It was either this or another two months of nothing.

I'll be _trying_ to get back to work on this monster soon, but the way life's been kicking me in the pants lately I'm not feeling too optimistic.

If you're still in high school, cherish it. Adulthood fucking sucks. Your petty teenage drama is nothing compared to what you're going to have to deal with later on down the road.


	31. This Cool Night Air is Curious

"Oh hey, we got a new student in our class this year."

"Stop the presses," Torako said as she waited for Kuro to finish defiling the street sign. As soon as the little dog had put his leg down and stepped away they were moving again.

Tomo ignored her sister's sarcastic response. "Her name's Kagura. She's kinda stupid, but I think you'd get along with her."

Torako flicked ashes from the end of her cigarette before returning it to her lips. "Why's that?"

"I'm pretty sure she's a dyke."

An irritated sigh. _I'm not _gay_ you little idiot. And even if I was since when are all lesbians automatically buddies?_ "And what makes you say that?" _This oughtta be good._

Tomo shrugged. "Well she's really into sports. That's usually a dead giveaway."

Torako transferred the leash over to her other hand and smacked Tomo upside the head. "That's the dumbest reasoning I ever heard."

She just laughed. "Touchy touchy . . . did Asagi get a little too wild on your sleepover last night?"

"There is no possible way that could be any less your business."

Tomo narrowed her eyes and smirked.

"One word and I will _hurt you._"

Tomo's smile only grew wider and nastier. "So did she put anything in your bu-"

"NO!"

--

Torako exhaled a stream of smoke and watched the rain drip off the edge of her umbrella. Beyond the intermittent veil the muffled flashes of lightning played through the dark clouds overhead, and thunder rolled lazily across the sky.

She inhaled, blew another stream of smoke, and looked out over the neighborhood. A few blocks away she heard a car splashing through puddles, and somewhere a dog was barking. She felt the momentary temptation to put on her shoes and go for a walk, but she couldn't quite convince herself it was worth the effort. After a moment she closed her eyes, pulled her feet in closer, and leaned her head back against the side of the house. She rarely went out to smoke on the roof while it was raining, but it wasn't coming down too hard tonight. Besides, it usually helped her relax.

There was a trilling beep from her open window, and she opened her eyes. With an irritated sigh she got up, leaned inside over her bed, and was just barely able to reach her phone on the nightstand. Once she'd sat back down under the umbrella she flipped it open.

"Yo," she said.

"Hey." It was Yomi. "Is Tomo near you?"

Torako glanced over at Tomo's window, flickering with the light of her TV. "Not really," she said. "Why, is her phone turned off or something?"

"No, nothing like that," Yomi said. "You're the one I wanted to talk to anyway."

Torako looked sideways at her phone. _What's this about?_ "And you don't want Tomo to find out, is that it?"

"I just think she'd make way too big a deal out of it if she knew I was talking to you about this."

Torako nodded. "Okay, then what's 'this'?"

A moment of silence; Yomi was hesitating. Then: "Tomo got a note in her shoe locker on Friday."

Torako blinked in surprise. "Really?" she said. "I'm a little shocked I didn't hear about this. Seems like the sort of thing she'd try to rub in everyone's face."

"She was certainly rubbing it in _mine._" Yomi sounded annoyed, and Torako didn't blame her.

"Not to sound mean," Torako said, "but I'm having a little trouble imagining the sort of person who'd have a crush on her."

Yomi laughed. It sounded a little forced. "Yeah. Right . . ."

"What's this have to do with me, though?"

Yomi hesitated again. "I don't know, I just . . . wanted someone to talk to about it."

"Are you feeling okay?" Torako took a drag, held it a moment, and let the smoke out in one big puff. "You almost sound like you're jealous."

"I'm fine," Yomi snapped. "I'm not jealous!"

"Okay, okay . . ." Torako said placatingly.

"I just . . . don't want her to get hurt, that's all."

"Let's be honest here," Torako said, looking at the glowing end of her cigarette in the dark. "Can you really see any sort of relationship involving Tomo lasting long enough for hearts to be broken when it inevitably goes down in flames?"

"Hey, come on," Yomi said. "She's not _that_ bad."

Torako turned the cigarette to look at the embers head-on. "Yomi, she's my sister and you know I love her, even I have to admit that that girl could drive _Ghandi_ to murder." She turned the cigarette around and put it between her lips, exhaling the smoke as she spoke next. "You'd have to either have the patience of a saint or the brain of a starfish to think she'd be worth dating."

"How can you even _say_ that?" Yomi asked, sounding like she weas hurt on her friend's behalf. "She's your _sister._"

Torako shrugged. "Well I'd say that makes me plenty qualified to say it, wouldn't you? If it makes you feel any better, I'm sure she'll grow out of it and settle down eventually." She paused. "Well, I _hope_ she will."

The line was quiet then, and Torako got the distinct impression that the girl on the other end wanted to say something but couldn't quite work up the nerve. This whole conversation was giving her a really weird vibe. " . . . Yomi?"

"Huh?"

"Just making sure you were still there."

"Oh . . . yeah, I'd better go." Then the line went dead as Yomi shut off her phone.

Torako looked at her phone a moment before clapping it shut and tossing it in through the window. "What the hell was _that_ about?" she muttered into her cigarette as she leaned her head back against the house once more. She turned her head, and looked at Tomo's flickering window.

_So, somebody thinks you're worth paper and an envelope, huh?_ Though she knew it was harsh, she was having a hard time believing it. While she had to admit that her sister was physically attractive, there was still the problem of her loud voice, her hyperactive personality, and her penchant for abusive and often crude humor. She of course knew that Tomo could also be surprisingly caring and sweet, but from what she'd seen of her classroom interactions over the years those sides of her were far from the most apparent to anyone who only knew her from school.

Torako sighed and turned her gaze back out over the rain-slicked neighborhood. And what was Yomi's deal, anyway? She could deny it all she wanted, but Torako knew jealousy when she heard it. So was she jealous because Tomo got a note and not her, or because a boyfriend might encroach on their time together, or because she viewed this mystery person as a romantic rival?

She _hmphed_ a laugh around her cigarette. _Yeah, right._ Yomi might be joined at the hip with her sister, but she couldn't quite imagine her harboring any sort of romantic intentions toward her. Their personalities were just too different.

_Of course, you and Asagi aren't exactly similar either, _she thought to herself.

_Oh, shut up,_ she thought right back. _I think I'd know her well enough to have an idea of who she'd go for._ Besides, she'd always gotten the impression that if one of those two suddenly wanted to take it beyond friendship, it would be Tomo.

She let her head fall back to rest against the side of the house and closed her eyes. _It's probably nothing anyway,_ she thought. _Besides, it would be a little ridiculous to think that_ every _girl I know is into same-sex romance. I'm probably just biased because of me and Asagi._

After a few minutes she took one last drag off her cigarette, flicked the butt over towards the neighbor's yard, and turned to climb back inside. Watching the rain might be relaxing, but it didn't finish her homework.

--

Tomo had made no mention of receiving a note in her locker over breakfast the next morning, and by the time Torako was sitting down at her desk she'd all but forgotten the matter. She was sketching abstract designs on a blank page of her notebook when she heard Asagi's voice behind her.

"Hey, you're actually awake today."

Torako turned in her chair to look back at her. "Only partially," she said. "I turned in a little early last night."

Asagi laughed. "Early is what for you, before midnight?"

A shrug. "Basically." She let her head drop back and yawned.

"Hey, I wanted to ask you . . ." Asagi said, "are you upset about Saturday night at all?"

"Huh? Why?"

Asagi shrugged this time. "I don't know, you just seemed kind of awkward at breakfast the next day.

Torako yawned again and rubbed a middle finger between her eyes. "Well it was unexpected and a little frightening at first, but I'll survive."

Asagi sighed a little and nodded. "Good. To be honest I felt a little bad about just busting it out on you like that."

Torako smirked. "Wait a minute, you have a conscience?"

The bell rang just as Asagi smacked her on the arm.

--

"_You_ dozed off in English today," Asagi said as she poked Torako's shoulder with her finger.

Torako looked askance at her and finished unwrapping her sandwich. "Y'know, you're probably one of the _last_ people who should be giving me crap for that." Oikawa nodded in agreement.

Asagi just shrugged. "Just because I do it too doesn't make it right. What kind of an upstanding citizen are you going to become if you sleep through all your classes?"

"And yet you let her smoke like a chimney," Oikawa said.

"Yeah," Torako said, "what kind of fine upstanding citizen starts smoking in middle school?"

"But it just makes you look so _cool,_" Asagi reasoned.

"And stink." Oikawa looked at Asagi. "It must be like making out with an ashtray."

"Hey," Torako said.

"No offense," Oikawa added.

Torako just grumbled and took a bite of her sandwich.

Asagi shrugged. "I don't mind it." She took bite of her lunch, chewed and swallowed and added: "Still, I'd hate to see you die of cancer."

"God, not you too," Torako muttered.

"Well it's true," Oikawa said, "smoking _does_ kill people."

"Didn't you say your grandmother died of lung cancer from smoking?" Asagi asked.

"If you guys are gonna start harassing me about this, I'll start eating in the cafeteria," Torako threatened.

"Then so will we," Asagi said with a smile that seemed to read _What kind of a weak threat is that?_ "But fine, I'll lay off for now."

Oikawa smirked. "Yeah, you don't wanna make her _too_ mad, or she might withhold your nookie."

Asagi laughed at the idea, and Torako just chewed uncomfortably.

--

"So have you got anything planned for summer vacation?" Asagi said as she pushed off from where she was leaning against the shoe lockers.

"Are you serious?" Torako asked as she put her inside shoes away and shut the metal door. "That's like four months away, why would I be making plans _now?_"

"Well, you never know," Asagi said with a shrug, "might have a big vacation or something planned."

They left the lockers and started heading for the doors. "My family doesn't _take_ big vacations," Torako said ruefully.

"Aww, that's too bad." Asagi didn't sound very sincere. "So you'll be free then?"

"Probably, why?"

"Because," Asagi said with a grin, "Yuko-chan might be going camping with her sister, and she says _we_ might be able to come too."

"And she didn't feel like mentioning this at lunch."

"She found out about it _after_ lunch. She emailed me while you were in the bathroom between Science and World History."

Torako sighed. "I don't know, I don't like sleeping someplace with no shower and no bed."

"Oh come on," Asagi insisted, "it'll be fun! Sitting around the fire, telling stories, looking up at the stars."

"Eating eggs out of a pan. Not cooked all the way with ashes in 'em."

"No stupid, we'd catch some fish and eat _those._"

"Oh great, then I can die of anaphylaxis, sounds like a plan."

"Huh?"

"I can't eat fish. Allergic."

"Oh." Asagi thought for a moment. "Well, we'll find you some pinecones or something."

Torako just shook her head.

"Oh come _on,_ it'll be fun!"

"Sleeping in a hot tent on the rocky ground with spiders on my face and you spooning me."

"_Please,_" Asagi teased, "like you wouldn't enjoy that last part."

Torako was about to reply when a first-year girl came barreling down the stairs and plowed right into her, sending them both crashing to the floor. The boy chasing her came to a screeching halt at the foot of the steps and Asagi narrowly avoided being brought down along with them.

"Aaah," Torako muttered, "_son _of a . . ."

The younger girl started to pick herself up, saw who she'd run into, and froze. "Uh . . . s-sorry . . . sempai . . ."

Torako nodded and let Asagi help her up. "Y'know, that's why they say not to run in the halls," she said and rubbed her elbow. She flexed it and winced a little.

"You should really be more careful," Asagi said sternly.

The girl nodded as her friend helped her up. "Yeah, I'll watch where I'm going from now on."

Torako waved at the two underclassmen dismissively and started walking again. "See that you do."

Asagi watched them hurry off in the other direction before she gave a little squeal and shook Torako's arm. "Boy were they scared of _you!_"

Torako made an annoyed face. "I noticed."

"Are you okay? You went down pretty hard there."

Torako pushed the door open, and they stepped outside. "I'll live." She reached into her pocket for her cigarettes. "Believe me, I've had worse."

They'd gone a block when Asagi suddenly stopped short. Torako looked up from flicking her lighter to see five students standing a little ways down the street, blocking their path. She refrained from lighting her cigarette and cocked an eyebrow.

When she saw that she had their attention Aya Hotei stepped forward. "Alright Takino, I'm calling you out. You and me, right here, right now, let's go."

Torako sighed and shook her head. "God dammit," she muttered.

* * *

**-Author Notes-**

Oh snap I wrote some shit! I really don't care if it's good or not, as I hold my readership in utter contempt.

(Nah, I'm just kiddin', I love each and every one of you fuckers. Platonically.)

So anyway, I know better than to make any promises, but starting this week my work schedule will be changing to something a little less _soul-crushing,_ so maybe (_maybe_) I'll start feeling more motivated to actually get back to writing.

Maybe.

Possibly.

It's a possibility.


	32. But You're That Girl With Sharp Teeth

Torako sniffed and wiped at her nose with the back of her hand. Sure enough, it came away bloody.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Asagi asked as she dug through her bag for some tissues.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I have had worse, you know."

Asagi nodded and tore open the packet. "Well I can't help being worried."

Torako took the tissues and wiped at her nose and mouth."Yeah, I know . . ." She looked at the bloody wad in her hand. "I'm just glad her flunkies didn't get involved."

"I'm sorry I didn't give you a hand," Asagi said quietly.

Torako shook her face and dabbed at her nose again. "No, it's fine. It wasn't your fight anyway." She sighed bitterly then. "It shouldn't even have been _mine._"

"Do you think she'll leave you alone now?"

"I wish, but I doubt it," Torako said with a glance behind them. Hotei and her friends were nowhere in sight. "I probably wouldn't say anything if she decided to spin it as a win for her." In reality Torako wasn't sure _who'd_ won. The fight had just sort of petered out after they'd both knocked each other down and were pulled away by their respective pit crews.

Asagi frowned. "I don't know if I like the idea of everyone thinking you got your ass kicked."

Torako shrugged. "Well it's not like I care. I'm sick of my stupid reputation anyway."

"I know, but I still don't want people to think something about you that isn't true." Never mind that she was more or less okay with everyone thinking she was some sort of indestructable badass.

Torako stopped, and Asagi saw they'd come to their usual division point. "Do you . . . want me to come with you?" she asked.

"No," Torako said with a slight shake of the head. "I'll be fine. At this point I'm not sure how much good you'd be able to do anyway."

"Well, okay." Asagi took several steps backwards in the direction of her house. "I'll call you later?"

"Assuming they don't confiscate my phone as punishment."

Asagi nodded and turned to go. "Well, see you! Good luck!"

Torako waved noncommitally and stood there a moment, watching Asagi's retreating back. Finally she turned and continued on her way, running her tongue over her split lip. She was not looking forward to getting home.

--

As usual, Tomo didn't bother knocking on her sister's door. "What'd you do to piss Mom off _this_ time?" she asked.

Torako sighed. "Got in a fight," she said without looking up from her homework.

Tomo looked at the back of her head. "Did you win?"

She shrugged. "I guess."

Tomo stepped forward and shook the back of her chair. "Well come on, I'm bored. Let's go somewhere."

Torako still didn't look up. "Can't. I'm grounded."

A cock of the head. "What? Why? What for?"

Torako finally turned to look at her sister. There was a good-sized bruise on her jaw, the red sheen of a split lip, and blood crusted dark around the rim of one of her nostrils. "Because I got in a _fight?_"

Tomo just sort of stared at her blankly for a moment, and Torako imagined she could almost hear the gears grinding away inside her head. "Well just sneak out then," she finally answered.

"At four-thirty in the afternoon?"

Tomo's voice grew whiney and petulant as she shook the chair harder. "Come oooooo-oooon!"

Torako sighed again as she turned back to her desk.. "Just go bug Yomi or something."

"She's going somewhere with her parents."

"Then curl up somewhere and die."

A hand smacked into the back of her head. "Why ya gotta be so mean!"

Even though it didn't hurt, Torako rubbed at her head anyway as she turned to look at her sister. "Because you're asking me to do something that would get me in trouble when I'm already in enough hot water?"

Tomo glared at here before turning and walking out of the room. She returned several minutes later, grunting and heaving under the weight of her TV.

"What the hell are you doing?" Torako asked as she turned her chair to watch.

" . . . Erf . . . I'm . . . ugh . . . keeping you . . . company!"

"And you needed your TV to do that?"

Tomo carefully set it down on the floor and picked up the cable and the power cord. "Well how else am I gonna watch TV? _You_ don't have one."

Torako turned back to her homework. "So watch it in _your_ room, genius."

Tomo swung the cable like a whip, hitting Torako right in the back of the head. "I just told you I'm keeping you company, moron!"

Torako yowled and lurched forward in her chair. "OW!! That _hurt,_ you idiot!" Her hand immediately went to where the old-style metal end of the coaxial cable had thwacked into the back of her skull.

"Quit being so crabby!"

Torako looked at her hand to make sure she wasn't bleeding. "You'd be crabby too if you just got whipped in the head with a TV cable!"

Tomo sighed. "You need to stop digging up the past."

Torako looked at her incredulously. "The pa- . . . That _just happened!_"

"That may or may not be true" Tomo said as she plugged the cable into the wall jack by the foot of the bookcase. "But whatever did really happen, there's nothing either of us can do to change it. What's done is done, and right now all we can do is pick up the pieces try to move on with our lives as best we can." She stepped over and put a hand on Torako's shoulder. "We can get through this, Tora-chan. I know we can. We just need to believe in ourselves, and in each other." She gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "Just remember, I'll be there for you if you need me."

Torako just stared at her sister for a moment, unsure whether to laugh, call her an idiot, or just smack her.

--

"Tora-chan."

Torako didn't bother opening her eyes. "Yeah?"

"You know how in TV shows or manga, there's always supporting characters who you don't see very often?"

Torako opened her eyes and looked over at the her sister. She was sitting on the floor against the bed, leaning her head back to look at her. ". . . .Yeah?"

She lifted her head up. "It's kind of weird when you think about it, how they probably have their own lives outside of everything else that's going on, with families, and friends, and people that care about them, but you'll never get to see it." She flopped her head back again. "Don't you think so?"

Torako returned her gaze to the ceiling. "Not really."

"Eh? You don't?"

She sighed. "They don't have lives, or friends, or family, or anything like that. They're just characters in a story, they don't even exist."

"You mean you never wonder about stuff like that?"

Torako shrugged and shifted her hands under her head. "Nope." Not entirely true, but by this point taking the opposing side in their discussions had become almost a reflex. She turned her head to look at Tomo. "What brought it up, anyway?"

Tomo turned her head back to the TV. "Just a thought I had suddenly."

Torako looked back up at the ceiling. The sun had nearly set, and the evening flame that had been washing the tiles was darkening to the blue of night. "Mm," was the only sound she made.

"So why'd you get in a fight, anyway?" Tomo asked after a few minutes.

Torako sighed. "Ugh, the whole thing was stupid. This new girl wants to be the toughest kid in school so she got it into her head that she needed to beat me up."

"Well _yeah,_" Tomo said, "you're a total badass."

Torako rolled her eyes. "It's still _stupid,_ I don't _care_ if she could beat me up or not. There's no need to _prove_ it."

Tomo turned around. "_Did_ she beat you up?" She sounded concerned now.

"Well she did put up a pretty good fight," Torako said with a sidelong smirk. "But I wouldn't say she walked away completely victorious."

Tomo nodded, apparently satisfied, and turned back to the television.

Torako looked back up at the ceiling.

--

"Tora-chan! Tora-chan, wake up!"

Without lifting her head Torako snarled and swung her arm at her sister.

Tomo leaned back on her knees and rubbed at where she'd hit. "What was that for?"

Torako glared at her, useless as a glare was in the dark. "For waking me up you moron, go back to bed."

Tomo leaned forward again. "I had a bad dream."

Torako groaned and buried her head under her pillow. "_I do not need to hear about every bad dream you have._"

"I dreamed Yukari-sensei went crazy and killed me and Yomi and all our friends."

"I don't know who that is."

"She's my homeroom teacher. Anyway and then we were in the afterlife and we had to find a way to get back to Earth so I didn't get sent to Hell and compressed into a living human brick."

"I don't _care,_" Torako said.

"Oh, and the reason I was gonna go to Hell was because I'd raped you."

Torako lifted her head and stared at her sister in horror. Tomo immediately leaned back and put her hands up.

"I-it was just a dream!"

Torako sat up and started hitting her with her pillow. "You shouldn't even be _dreaming_ stuff like that you sicko!"

"Ow! Ow, I'm sor-ow! Quit it Tora-chan!"

"Go to bed, you pervert!"

Tomo got to her feet as best she could while warding off the pillow. "Okay! Okay, okay I'm _going,_ geez!"

When the door finally closed Torako sighed and buried her face in the pillow. She really wished she'd never heard that.

--

"She dreamed she _what?_"

"You heard me." Torako said with a glance around the classroom. She certainly wasn't going to repeat it.

Asagi _hmmphed._ "Well she better not try it for _real,_ that's _my_ job."

Torako rested her cheek on her hand. "You know, you're not really helping . . ."

Asagi smiled and patted her shoulder. "Oh don't worry, I'm sure it didn't mean anything." She thought for a moment. "Though, she _does_ seem rather _affectionate_ towards you, from what I've seen . . ."

Torako sighed in disgust. "Okay that's it, I'm sleeping with my door locked."

"She can get in through the window too you know."

"God _damn_ it!"

Asagi just laughed at her uke's discomfort.

--

"Torako got in another fight?" Yomi asked in apparent disbelief, despite having known Torako for far too long to find that the least bit surprising.

Tomo nodded. "Yup."

Yomi shook her head and leaned back against Tomo's desk. "You know I'm starting to think she really _does_ enjoy it."

Tomo crossed her arms and leaned her chair back on the two rear legs. "Well anyway, Mom and Dad are pretty pissed and she's grounded for the next week. Apparently Mom was just about spitting blood when she saw her all beat up."

"I'm not surprised, the way she's been on her case about that. You know it's pretty weird how _she's_ the one who can't seem to keep out of trouble."

Tomo gave her a Look. "What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

Yomi just looked at her.

"Anyway," Tomo said with a shrug, "guess what _I_ got yesterday."

"You're just changing the subject like that?"

Tomo leaned forward and a petty grin spread across her face. "I got another _note._"

"No you didn't."

Tomo closed her eyes and nodded smugly. "Did so. In my shoe locker."

Yomi sighed. "I was right there when we got here and when we left yesterday, and I didn't see any notes in your shoe locker."

Tomo just shrugged. "Well you obviously just didn't notice it, because it was definitely in there." She put a hand to her chest triumphantly. "_I_ have a secret _admirer._" She smirked up at her friend. "And _you don't._"

Yomi stood up. "Tomo what kind of blockheaded _idiot_ would fall in love with _you?!_"

Tomo was busy formulating a retort when a dark-skinned hand slapped down on her desk. They both turned to see Kagura standing there, looking as irritatingly good-natured as ever. "Morning!"

Tomo grinned and waved a hand. "Mornin', Tits!"

Kagura's face went red. "What did you call me?!"

Yomi just sighed and went to her own desk.

* * *

**-Author Notes-**

Yeah, short chapter. It also didn't really advance the plot all that much, but I wanted to do a bit of filler to get myself back in the story's groove before I started getting back into anything actually important. Hopefully it's at least entertaining. No, I don't know what the chapter title has to do with the content. I just took it from the song I'm listening to as I put it up here.

And yes, I skipped over the fight. I couldn't seem to write any versions of it that weren't utter garbage, so I just said "Screw it." This way you can imagine it as badass as you like! Maybe they slugged it out with fisticuffs! Maybe they busted out some improbable martial arts skillz! Maybe they got a couple Valkyries from somewhere and took it to the sky! Maybe they both turned out to be Saiyans! _You_ decide! See, really, I was doing you a _favor_ by not showing it. You _owe_ me.

I prefer cash, but I'm also willing to accept checks.

You can also feel free to speculate on just what the hell is going on with Tomo and her "secret admirer," because quite honestly I'm not exactly sure myself. I just kind of kicked that plot off without really thinking about where it was gonna lead, so I'm still a little fuzzy on the details. I don't usually like writing without a destination in mind, since it's a lot harder to decide what should happen next and it's very easy to write yourself into a corner, but it can also be a lot of fun.

And you can rest easy, I'm not planning on having Tomo actually rape Torako any time soon. Some of you out there will no doubt know what that was a reference to.

Finally, you may have noticed that this story is now in the new Yotsubato! category as opposed to Azumanga's. Y'know, since it centers around Torako and Asagi. I'm kind of fighting categorizing it as a crossover, but as the story (very slowly) goes on I suppose I may have to.

Well, that's all for now, you little shits! Take it sleazy!


	33. Here Comes the Rain Again

Phone calls from Yomi were rare enough, but a request for a meeting, especially one that Tomo remain unaware of, was virtually unprecedented. Truth be told Torako would probably rather be spending the first day after the end of her house arrest with Asagi or Oikawa (preferrably the former, with no disrespect to the latter), but she wasn't about to turn down her oldest friend. If nothing else, she had to satisfy her curiosity as to what was going on.

As she rested her legs and coasted Torako glanced up at the sky. The forecast said it was likely to rain, but the clouds were that particular shade of gray, darker than simply overcast but lighter than an impending downpour, that made it difficult to judge. If it did rain, she hoped it would wait until she'd gotten back home; neither walking her bike through the rain, nor trying to ride it, while holding her umbrella, seemed like something she wanted to try.

As she began pedaling her bike again Torako ran through a mental list of possible reasons Yomi might want to meet with her alone. A love confession, perhaps? Or maybe she was planning to kill her. Perhaps she was going to be recruited into a secret paramilitary organization that protected Japan from otherworldly threats using advanced mechs that were powered by sarcasm.

It occurred to her that she wasn't trying very hard to think of _plausible_ reasons for why Yomi would want to meet with her.

Whatever the reason, she supposed she would find out soon enough; there was the cafe that had been specified as the meeting place, and there was Yomi, sitting at one of the outside tables. It looked like she was simply staring into space, and it didn't seem as though she noticed Torako as she rode past and circled around to the bike racks.

When she arrived at the table Torako tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey," she said as she slid into the empty chair across from her.

Yomi jumped a little. "Oh . . . hey. Thanks for coming," she said, and picked up her coffee a little self-consciously.

Torako cocked an eyebrow as best she could. "What's with you?"

"Oh," Yomi smiled a little and shook her head. "Nothing . . . I just spaced out a little there."

Torako nodded, then turned to the waitress that seemed to materialize out of nowhere. "Oh, nothing for me, thanks." As the girl moved on she turned back to Yomi. "So what's up?"

Yomi seemed to hesitate a moment, then: "Has . . . Tomo mentioned getting any notes in her locker to you?"

Torako leaned back in her chair and shook her head as she began digging out her cigarettes and lighter. She'd actually almost forgotten all about that, as a matter of fact. "Not to me, anyway. Why, she get another one?" She got out a cig and put the end between her lips.

Yomi leaned against the table and sighed. "According to her, she's gotten one every day for the past week."

Torako paused before applying flame to cigarette. "_Every day_ for the last _week?_"

Yomi nodded. "That's what she says. Keeps rubbing it in my face that she's got a _secret admirer._" She looked across the table at her with an expression that made it clear she found the whole thing annoying.

"That's not a secret admirer, that's a _stalker._"

Yomi nodded again. "That's what I told her, but she just said I was jealous." She shook her head and glanced across the street. "There's something about it though . . ." she muttered.

After lighting the cigarette and taking the first drag Torako ventured a guess. "You think she's making it up?"

Yomi shrugged and looked at her. "The second time she said she got a note, I told her I hadn't seen anything when she opened her locker. Now it's almost like she _wants_ me to notice when she finds them. And she keeps rubbing it in my face, but every time I ask her what the notes _say,_ she either gets evasive or just says it's not my business and drops the subject."

Torako just blew a thin stream of smoke as she ran the information through her head. "You're right, that does sound pretty suspicious," she finally said. _Every day for a week? Come on Tomo, even _you _have to realize that's going overboard with a lie._

Yomi nodded. "Anyway, could you maybe try to see what's going on? I don't know, say you ran into me on the street and I happened to mention it or something."

Dammit, Torako hated getting drawn into things like this. Still, she nodded. "Yeah, I'll ask her what's up." Pushover.

Yomi looked almost relieved. "Thanks," she said.

"So . . . why are you so interested in this, anyway?" Torako asked.

Yomi picked her her coffee, set it down, and tapped a finger on the cup's rim. "I suppose I just want to prove she's full of it, just to shut her up."

Torako wasn't quite sure she believed that, but she let it go for now.

"So how are things with you?" Yomi said after a moment of slightly uncomfortable silence. "We haven't heally gotten a chance to talk in a while."

"I'm doing okay," Torako said. "Aside from getting grounded, anyway."

"I heard about that," Yomi said and sipped her coffee. Now that the subject was away from Tomo's dubious love letters she seemed much more at ease. "What happened this time, anyway?"

Torako made an annoyed sound and spun her lighter on the table. "Oh, we got some new transfer student and she wants to be top dog." She shrugged. "Apparently that means picking a fight with me."

Yomi closed her eyes and sighed. "Didn't I _tell_ you that was going to happen if you started getting into fights?"

Torako just spun the lighter on its side.

"So has she given you any trouble since then?"

She picked up the lighter and shook her head. "Not really. Hopefully she's satisfied now."

Yomi nodded and took another sip of coffee. "And how are things with Asagi?"

Torako nodded and took a drag on her cigarette. "They're good . . ."

Yomi nodded again, and was quiet for a moment. "So . . . how'd you know, anyway?"

"Huh?"

"You know, that you . . . liked her."

She had to think about that one. "You know," she finally answered, "I'm not really sure. I just . . . liked being around her, I guess." Torako looked at her. "Why do you ask?" Now that she thought about it, she really had no idea _what_ Yomi thought of her and Asagi's relationship. She'd never offered her opinion before, and Torako had never bothered to ask. Was she asking because she disapproved, and found the idea distasteful? Almost as soon as she thought of that Torako was skeptical; Yomi seemed too intelligent and level-headed to have a knee-jerk reaction like that, let along hold onto it for so long. But still, people were often much more complicated than one would expect . . .

"Just curious, I suppose." Yomi looked into her coffee. "I guess it's a little weird to me. But then I suppose it wouldn't be any different from realizing you liked a guy, right?" She looked at her and shrugged slightly. "If you like someone, you like someone."

Torako nodded in agreement.

--

Torako sighed and looked up at the clouds as she pedaled her bike away from the cafe, then glanced back at Yomi, receding behind her as she walked. She was trying very hard not to jump to any conclusions about that little meeting, but from the vibes she'd picked up it was difficult not to. _What are you up to, Tomo?_ she wondered. That she was trying to make Yomi jealous was obvious, but why? She supposed the possibility that she was simply doing it to mess with her friend's head and get a laugh was probably the most plausible; after all, Tomo had gone to extraordinary lengths just to piss her off before.

That much was obvious, but less clear was how Yomi felt about the whole thing. What had that sudden interest in her relationship with Asagi been about, anyway?

"Torako!"

_Speak of the devil . . . _Torako turned, then slowed to let Asagi catch up. "You're not grounded anymore?" she asked once they were side by side.

"Ended today," Torako said. "I was gonna call you when I got home."

"So what're you up to now?" Asagi asked.

"I had to meet someone."

Asagi laughed. "Torako Takino, you aren't _cheating_ on me, are you?" She didn't even try to sound accusatory.

Torako glanced up at the sky. It still wasn't raining yet. "Funny. No, Yomi wanted to see me about something."

Asagi nodded, then changed the subject. "Anyway, you wouldn't get in trouble if you came to my house, would you?"

Torako pedaled a couple times and shrugged. "Probably not." Her parents were both supposed to be working late, so they probably wouldn't know about it anyway.

"Great! Come on, let's go."

Asagi sped up, and Torako followed.

--

"Fuuka's sleeping over at a friend's house and Mom's out with Ena," Asagi explained as they walked in the door. "So I've got the house to myself for the afternoon."

Torako nodded and took a step into the living room, but Asagi grabbed her arm.

"Nope," she said with a miscievous smirk, "we're going upstairs."

Torako felt her pulse quicken as she followed her up the steps; she knew exactly what Asagi had in mind. It _had_ been a week since they were able to do anything outside of school, after all. Sure enough, as soon as Asagi's bedroom door was closed Torako was backed up against it, and Asagi's lips were pressed against hers.

After a long moment Asagi disengaged, laughing at the deep blush spreading across Torako's face. She pressed in close, sandwiching her against the door, and smirked lasciviously. "It's been a whole week," she said, and Torako heard the lock click. "I think we need to make up for lost time."

The next thing she knew Torako had been shoved backwards onto the bed, and Asagi was straddling over her with a predatory look in her eyes. Torako scuttled backwards a bit, unconsciously playing her part, and Asagi crawled along on top of her, grinning the entire time. Then they both stopped, and her face slowly changed. As she stared down at Torako underneath her, completely at her mercy, her eyes lost that hungry gleam. Her grin, so wide in anticipation of ravaging her prey, gradually faded to a much softer smile. She brought a hand up, and brushed a few stray hairs from Torako's face.

When she didn't move for several moments, Torako finally broke the silence. "Um . . . Asagi?"

Without a word Asagi leaned in and kissed her tenderly, slowly lowering her body and pinning her underneath. Torako closed her eyes as she felt the lips move from her mouth to her neck, and Asagi's hand squirming between them to undo the buttons on her shirt.

--

Tomo was lying on the floor of her bedroom, listening to the rain patter on the roof and on her window. She opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling, tracing the lines of the tiles. She hated being home alone, with nothing to do. She turned her head to look at the TV, but she didn't quite feel like watching. She looked back up at the ceiling, and after a minute or so grunted as she got up and went to her CD player. If she was going to be bored, she might as well listen to some music while doing so.

She flopped back onto her bed and glared at the phone on her desk. Neither Yomi, nor Torako had answered when she'd tried to call them. She wondered what they were doing. She didn't know about the former, but she had a pretty good idea about where the latter probably was right now, or at least who she was probably with.

Tomo didn't like Asagi all that much. Sure, they usually got along okay, but she didn't like the way she always seemed to tell her sister what to do, or the way she seemed almost to lead her around like a dog on a leash. Even more irritating was the fact that Torako seemed to _like_ it that way. Sure, she complained about Asagi's bossy personality often enough, but Tomo knew her well enough to know when the shows of annoyance weren't genuine.

Just what the hell kind of relationship did those two _have,_ anyway? Their private sessions didn't involve a ball gag and a riding crop, did they?

. . . Well, it would be pretty kinky if they did, but she still didn't want to think about it. Not with her twin sister involved, anyway.

--

Rei Oikawa tapped her cigarette into the car's ashtray as she waited for the light to change. She frowned over at her little sister, seated in the passenger seat and looking through a hole in a small box. "That was low," she said.

Yuko looked away from the rat sniffing around the inside of the box and turned to her. "Well you wouldn't have given me a ride if I said why I needed to go."

Rei looked forward at the windshield wipers as they went about their monotonous routine. "Why do you have to feed that thing _live_ animals?" She glanced over at the box. "Especially _cute_ ones?"

Yuko turned her attention back to the rat. "Thulsa Doom's not a _thing,_ and he doesn't like it when I just wiggle hamburger in his face." She shrugged. "Besides, just about every animal needs to kill to survive."

The light changed, and they were moving again. "Herbivores don't," Rei said as she took another drag on her cigarette.

"I'm sure the plants would feel differently. Besides, a lot of big herbivores are _mean, _what about hippos and water buffalo?"

Rei thought for a moment. "Okay, vultures."

Yuko put the box in her lap. "There's no way I'd want to keep a vulture as a pet. Besides, I'm pretty sure it's illegal."

"Fair enough." Rei sighed as she took a corner. "I should have stayed in the car."

Yuko smiled a little and looked at her out of the corner of her eye, then raised the box to her face. "You're gonna die," she cooed. "My snake's gonna squeeze the air from your lungs until you stop moving then he's gonna swallow you whole! Doesn't that sound _fun?_ Doesn't it? Yes it _does!_"

Rei made a disgusted sound. "Ugh, you're a real monster, you know that? _Sadist._"

Yuko just shrugged. "Hey, just be glad he's not big enough to feed him _rabbits._"

"Shut up! Poor little bunnies . . ."

Yuko just laughed.

--

Gradually their breathing slowed, and as the waves of climax subsided Asagi rolled off of Torako to lay beside her. Torako ran a hand across her sweaty forehead, pulling her hair away from her face, then rested her forearm across her eyes. When her pulse had returned to normal, and her chest was no longer heaving, she spoke. " . . . What was that about?"

"Hm? What was what about?"

Torako shrugged a little. "Well, you were a lot more . . . gentle than you usually are."

Asagi rolled onto her side and put an arm around her. Her fingers felt slick when they came to rest on her side, running playfully across her ribs. "I don't know," she said, "I just had this thought." She looked at her face, partially hidden beneath her arm, and laughed a little self-consciously. "I guess it's pretty stupid."

"Uh?" Torako lifted her arm and looked at her. "What's stupid?"

Asagi shrugged and ran her hand further along Torako's body, to rest on her hip. "Well . . ." She seemed to be searching for the right words to use. "You just . . . give yourself over to me, to do what I want."

"Well that's how you like it, isn't it?"

Asagi nodded. "Well, I just thought . . . if you trust me enough to do that . . . I don't know, I just didn't want to be so rough on you this time." When Torako put her arm back over her eyes, Asagi lifted it away. "You liked it, right?"

Torako nodded and smiled.

"Good," Asagi whispered, and leaned in. She kissed her then, and their naked bodies entwined in a lovers' embrace . . . until they rolled right off the edge of the bed and onto the floor.

--

"Well it's about _time._"

Torako turned as she was untying her shoes to see Tomo stomping down the stairs towards her. "Hm?"

Tomo came to stand beside her, looking more petulant than stern. "Where the hell _were_ you all day, huh?"

Torako set her shoes aside and stood. "Out," she said, and headed for the kitchen. "Mom and Dad still not home?"

"You left me here alone!" Tomo was almost whining as she followed after her.

"So?" Torako opened the fridge and got out a bottle of orange juice. "Do you really still need supervision?"

"I was _bored!_"

Torako sighed as she got out a glass from the cupboard. "You know there's stuff to do, you could read or watch TV."

Tomo shook her head. "I don't wanna do those."

"So play a video game or something."

"I'm sick of ours."

Torako nearly suggested calling Yomi, but remembered their little talk and thought better of it. Besides, their parents were already on her case for running up such a steep cell phone bill as it was. Not that she had any room to point fingers lately, thanks to Asagi . . .

Instead she capped the juice and put it back in the fridge before heading for the living room. "Well what do you think _I_ would have done about it?"

Tomo shrugged. "I don't know, we could hang out or something."

Torako picked up the TV remote, sat down on the couch, and put her feet up on the coffee table. "Well we can just do that now, so calm down."

Apparently mollified, Tomo sat down at the opposite end of the couch.

As she half-watched the TV Torako glanced at her sister out of the corner of her eye. _Could you maybe try to see what's going on?_ Yeah, sure. No problem. Thanks, Yomi. Finally she took a deep breath, let it out, and decided to take a shot. "So I ran into Yomi while I was out."

"Did you get caught in her gravitational pull?" Tomo asked, almost reflexively.

She chose to ignore that. "She happened to mention something interesting." She looked across the couch at Tomo. "What's this I hear about a secret admirer?"

The briefest look of surprise flickered across Tomo's face, then she let out a laugh that was somehow both casual and forced. "Oh, that?" she said. "It's nothing, just some guy putting notes in my locker."

Torako took a sip of orange juice. "What kind of notes?"

Tomo shrugged. "Just notes."

"What, you didn't read them or something?"

Tomo crossed her arms dismissively. "Well it's not like it's any of your business anyway."

"Says the one who wrestled a note away from me so she could read it and laugh at me," Torako pointed out.

"Why do you want to know, anyway?" Tomo asked. "Jealous?"

Torako laughed. "Why _would_ I be? Besides, I don't think _I'm_ the one you're trying to make jealous with those."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

Torako just shrugged and took another sip of juice. "Nothing, nothing . . ."

Tomo reached out a leg and shoved her foot against Torako's shoulder, making her spill the orange juice on herself, the couch, and the floor. Torako immediately jumped to her feet and shook her juice-covered arm. "Hey, what the hell!"

Tomo glared up at her. "I'm not making it up!"

Torako stomped into the kitchen to get a towel. "Did I say you _were?_"

Tomo got to her feet. "You said I was just trying to make Yomi jealous!"

"I never named names," Torako said when she returned with a towel and knelt down to wipe up the spill. "_Why do you have to be such a pain . . ._"

". . . Well, you were _thinking_ it!" Tomo accused. "I know you were!"

Torako just shook her head and kept wiping.

Tomo watched her. " . . . I _wasn't._"

Torako just shrugged. "Hey, so you're trying to get Yomi's attention by making her think someone's interested in you. None of my business." She got up and went to drop the towel off in the laundry room. "Not like I'd judge you anyway."

"What . . ." Tomo stomped after her. "_I am _not _doing that!_"

Torako laughed and shook her head. "Calm down, I'm _kidding._"

"Well it's not funny!"

Torako tossed the towel into a hamper and turned to look down at her sister. "Oh, so you're allowed to give me grief, but I'm not allowed to do the same, is that it?"

Tomo crossed her arms and nodded authoritatively. "That's _precisely_ it."

"You're an idiot," Torako said as she brushed past her on her way back to the living room. "Whatever _is_ going on, you can leave me _out_ of it, understand?"

"Hah!" Tomo followed her and snorted derisively. "Like I'd ever ask _you_ for help."

"Yeah, because it's not like _I_ have any experience with 'secret admirers,'" Torako muttered as she sat back down after pouring a new glass of orange juice.

"Speaking of which," Tomo said as she took her place at the opposite end of the couch, "what does vagina taste like?"

Torako spat her first sip across the coffee table. "_Dammit,_ Tomo!"

She just put her hands up and shrugged. "What, I was just wondering!"

* * *

**-Author Notes-**

Holy shit, a new chapter in less than a month?! What's going on here?!

You know what's awesome? You know how the last few chapters, I went for _months_ without updating? Well I've recently realized that in that time I forgot like half the future developments I had planned. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I fucking fail.


	34. Message in a Bottle, Yeah

Yomi looked over in exasperation as she pulled on her shoes to go home. "_Another_ one?"

Sure enough, Tomo was holding another note. Even as she spoke though, Yomi could see something was different. This envelope was bright yellow, not white like all the others (that she strongly suspected all came from the same box, which was probably located somewhere in Tomo's bedroom), and it looked like it was held shut with a sticker.

_Could this actually be a . . . _

Yomi could see her own confusion mirrored on Tomo's face when she turned towards her. For a brief moment anyway, before she regained her composure and thrust the envelope towards her with a victorious whoop. "Hah!" she nearly shouted, "I got _another one!_ Who's the popular one _now_ Yomi, huh?!"

The face of Hello Kitty stared from the envelope at Yomi like a beady-eyed, morbidly obese lab rat. With what she hoped wasn't a visible effort she swallowed her annoyance, shrugged, and bent to pick up her schoolbag. "Well, good for you."

That obviously wasn't the kind of reaction Tomo had wanted, because she began flapping the envelope at Yomi as she followed after, started to say something, and then stopped and ran back to get her own bag. "Dammit Yomi," she said when she'd caught up with her, "don't be so high and mighty! You're supposed to be jealous!"

"Well I guess I was a little at first," Yomi said as she headed for the doors, "but after thinking about it I'm happy for you. I think a boyfriend might be just the thing you need to learn to grow up."

Tomo stopped and stared after her for a moment, then began flapping her arms again as she caught up. "Yooooomiiiiiiii! That's not how you're supposed to be reacting to this! You're supposed to be outraged! You're supposed to be upset that I wouldn't hang out with you as much! You're doing it all wrong!"

Yomi just shrugged. It felt good to be the one dishing out the torment for a change. "Oh, I'm not worried about that. We see each other in class every day, don't we?"

"You're heartless, Yomi!" Tomo whined. "Heartless!"

--

When her phone buzzed in her pocket, Torako was leaning against a wall a few houses down from her own, finishing her cigarette. She swore under her breath when she saw who it was. She'd already reported back to Yomi with what she'd learned the other day, what more did she want? With an irritated grumble she flipped the phone open and placed it to her ear. "Yeah."

"I need you to do me a favor," Yomi said. She sounded almost urgent.

Torako thought a moment, then placed the cigarette between her lips. "That depends." Inhale. "Is it legal?" Exhale.

"Tomo got a note in her locker today," Yomi explained. "I need you to steal it for me."

Torako glanced sidelong at the phone in her hand. _What?_ "Don't you think you're taking this whole thing just a little too far?"

"This one looked different!" Yomi insisted. "I don't think it's from the same person as the others." They both had a pretty good idea who that person was.

"You think it's for real this time?"

"It might be."

Torako thought that over. _ . . . Huh._ She hadn't been expecting that. "Well . . . " She paused a moment. "In that case, it's not really our business, is it?"

"Of course it's our business," Yomi said, "she's my friend, and _your_ sister."

"Did you start prying when _I_ had that secret admirer?" She'd never told her about that, but she knew full well that she'd heard about it anyway through Tomo's incessantly flapping gums.

"That was different," Yomi said lamely.

"How so?" Torako asked before taking the last drag on the cigarette. "Aren't I your friend too?"

"Yeah, but I knew you wouldn't want me asking about it, so I didn't."

Torako had to concede the point, as well as the added implication that Tomo probably _would_ want to be asked about it. Finally she sighed and shook her head as she ground the expended butt into the pavement and turned to head home. "If she happens to mention anything to me I'll let you know, but I'm not stealing anything for you. You're already acting weird enough as it is."

She heard Yomi sigh on the other end. "Okay, okay. I probably shouldn't have asked anyway, I'm sorry."

Torako accepted the apology with an "Mm," then hung up after Yomi had done so first. Did she even _want_ to know what was going on with those two?

--

Yomi sighed and placed the phone on her desk. Maybe she should have pushed harder. She knew what a pushover Torako really was, she would have caved if it looked like she'd have to put up a real fight. She didn't like taking advantage of that though, and besides, she did have a point. If someone actually was interested in Tomo, it really wasn't anyone's business but hers. At least, unless the guy turned out to be a scumbag or something who would just end up hurting her, but it was a little early to be assuming that.

And really, how dangerous could a guy who closed envelopes with Hello Kitty stickers be?

_. . . Wait a minute._ Hello Kitty stickers?

There was only one guy in their class that had anything to do with Hello Kitty.

--

"What did you do when you got those notes from Asagi?"

Torako looked at her sister walking beside her. "What? What notes?"

"You know," Tomo explained, "when you were getting notes last year. They were from Asagi, weren't they?"

Torako shook her head. "No, those were from someone else."

"Oh . . ." Tomo looked surprised and a little confused. "Well what did you do?"

Torako glanced down at Kuro trotting along, then at the tree overhead. "Well I had no idea who they were from, and I didn't really know what to do even if I did, so I didn't do anything." She glanced at a couple walking in the opposite direction on the other side of the street. "And then it all kind of went downhill."

"What, was he really ugly or something?"

Torako winced. ". . . Well, you know that girl that hit me in the head with a rock last summer, and I beat her up along with two of her friends?"

"Yeah?"

"Well . . ." Torako hesitated. "It turned out the notes had been from her."

Tomo just walked in silence for a moment, staring at the sidewalk. Then she spluttered and burst out laughing. "Wow Tora-chan, I had no idea you were so popular with the ladies!"

Torako just grumbled around her cigarette. "Why do you want to know, anyway?"

Tomo put on an air of smug satisfaction. "Because _I_ got a note on _my_ locker today."

"I thought you'd been getting notes for the past week."

Tomo waved a hand dismissively. "Oh, I made those up to mess with Yomi."

_Funny how you admit it so casually after denying it so hard . . ._ Torako thought with a roll of her eyes. "So what'd this _real_ note say?"

"Well . . . " Tomo put her arms behind her head and turned her eyes upward as she thought. "They said I was really cute, and said 'Please be my honey pineapple muffin-cake.'"

Torako bit back a laugh. "'Honey pineapple muffin-cake'? Really?" So that must have been what she'd been laughing about in her room when Torako had gotten home.

"Shut up! _I_ didn't write the stupid thing!"

"Okay, okay . . . so _are_ you gonna be their honey pineapple muffin-cake?"

Tomo made an irritated sound and let her arms drop to her sides. "I don't even know who it's _from._"

Torako transferred Kuro's leash from one hand to the other and glanced at her. "Not even an idea?"

Tomo just shook her head.

"You must be pretty unpopular at your school if you can't think of _anyone_ who might be into you."

"Shut up, _hag!_" Tomo spat with a backhanded smack into Torako's arm. "I'm _super_ popular! The problem is I can't narrow it down to _just one person._"

Torako made an _ugh_ sound.

"What?" Tomo demanded. "You don't believe me?"

Torako shook her head. "No, I don't. Not in a million years." Then she howled in agony as Tomo hauled off and punched her in the side.

--

When she got back from walking Kuro, Tomo went up to her room and sat down on her bed. She stayed there a moment, then got up and went over to her schoolbag lying where she'd tossed it onto her desk. After undoing the buckles and pulling open the flap, she reached inside and dug around until she found the envelope. After sitting back on the bed, she opened it and pulled out the note.

How the hell was she supposed to feel about this, anyway? What were you supposed to do if you didn't like the person back? Were you supposed to just act like you'd never gotten it, or was there some sort of procedure she wasn't aware of? Maybe she was supposed to leave a response for them to find? It didn't help that she had no idea who'd put it there in the first place, only an idea who _hadn't._

She sighed in annoyance and flopped onto her back. _Ugh,_ she hated people who didn't have the nerve to sign their love letters! If you want to confess to someone then be a man about it dammit, none of this wishy-washy anonymous crap! She had half a mind to turn turn this guy down just because of that. And what was with that Hello Kitty sticker? Seriously? Did he put it on there because he thought she'd like it, or was _he_ into that?

It _was_ from a guy, she knew that much. The declaration of "undying man-love" made that much clear.

She held the note up over her face and glared at it. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen at _all,_ it was supposed to be a love confession from the person _she_ wanted, not some no-name loser. She was supposed to be _excited_ about getting her first real love letter, not annoyed and apprehensive.

_Oh well,_ she thought as she lowered the note, _at least this'll make Yomi _really _jealous._ She couldn't help but grin as she imagined her at home right now, sobbing into her pillow because _Tomo_ had gotten a love letter before _her._

. . . Well, at least Tomo didn't _think_ Yomi had ever gotten any love letters. She'd never _seen_ any anyway, but there were days when they left the school at different times, or when she didn't go join her until they were both ready to leave . . . what if Yomi _had_ been getting notes? What if she'd gotten a whole bunch?! She'd have told her, wouldn't she? _Wouldn't she?!_ She sat up and grabbed for her phone.

--

"Yomi, Tomo's on the phone!"

Yomi sighed, put down her pencil, and reached for the reciever. What did she want now? "Hello?"

"You bastard, you've been holding out on me, haven't you!" She sounded dangerously close to upset.

Yomi was silent for a few moments as she tried to make sense of the accusation. She quickly gave up. " . . . What are you talking about?"

"Have you gotten any love letters?!" Tomo demanded.

_Oh, god._ ". . . Well a _couple,_ but I wasn't interested so-"

Tomo's wail cut her off, and then she'd hung up. Yomi just sat there for a long minute, staring at the phone.

What had just happened?

* * *

**-Author Notes-**

Hey! A new chapter! I actually had this one most written just a couple days after I got the last chapter up, but then I just kinda got distracted and forgot about it for a while. There was more I wanted to put in this one, but I'm having a bitch of a time making it not suck so I'll save it for the next chapter. So you're stuck with this short one for now. This _disgustingly short_ one. Ugh, it makes me _sick._ You hear me, Chapter? Your shortness _sickens_ me.

It's a little fun writing this whole Tomo/Yomi development, because I still don't really know what the hell Tomo's trying to do and what she's thinking. Is she trying to see if Yomi _like_-likes her? Is she just trying to mess with her? Does _she_ even know what she's trying to achieve here? I have no idea.

Oh, and if you think you recognize the person behind Tomo's _real_ love letter, well, you're probably right.

Unless you're not.


	35. Time Will See Us Realign

_I should be doing something._ _Okay, but what? It's one in the morning._

Torako sighed and put an arm across her eyes. Dammit, she'd been tired when she'd gone to bed an hour ago. But of course, as soon as her head hit the pillow . . . She cursed under her breath and sat up. Maybe she'd feel better after a smoke.

She hated this feeling. All her homework was done, and as far as she knew she didn't have anything else she had to do, so why did she feel like she needed to do something before it was too late? She exhaled a stream of smoke and leaned her head back against the side of the house. She knew it was probably nothing, but knowing didn't exactly help her feel any better. She glanced over at her window. Would Asagi be up right now? _Probably_, she thought. She didn't really feel like talking to her would do much good, though.

She turned her head the other way, towards Tomo's window. Sure enough, it was flickering with the light of the television. She thought for a moment, then finished off her cigarette and got to her feet.

"I could've been naked," Tomo said as her sister slid her window open and leaned in.

"But you're not," Torako said as she swung a leg over the sill.

Tomo shrugged and turned back to the TV. "Well I _could've_ been. And then you'd be a pervert."

Torako sat down on her sister's bed and looked at the back of her head protruding over the edge. "But you're not," she reiterated. "And you're hardly one to be calling people a pervert."

Tomo looked back at her again. "I am not a pervert!"

Torako just looked at her.

Tomo crossed her arms and turned back to the television. "What do you want, anyway."

"Can't sleep," Torako replied as she got comfortable on the bed.

"Do what I do," Tomo said, "do all your sleeping in class."

"I think I'd rather not."

"Yeah, probably," Tomo said with a shrug. "After all, who would Asagi copy her assignments off of then?" Then she made an angry sound and squirmed to the side as Torako put her feet on her head.

"And just what were _you_ doing every day up until the end of middle school?"

"That's not the point," Tomo said. "And besides, I'm your sister, so it's allowed."

Torako shook her head and glanced out the window.

"What's with you?"

She turned back to see Tomo peering at her. "What?"

"You look like something's bothering you."

Torako thought for a moment, then shook her head and looked back out the window. "I don't know, I just feel restless. Like there's something I need to do, but I don't know what it is." She looked back at Tomo. "You ever feel like that?"

Tomo shook her head and turned back to the television a third time. "Nope, never. My mind is as calm as a tropical lagoon on a warm summer's day."

"You mean it's as vacant as an empty lot," Torako corrected.

Tomo nodded authoritatively. "Empty of worries, yeah."

* * *

**-Author Notes-**

Hi! Remember me? No? Yeah, I wouldn't remember me either. You may have noticed that this is an extremely short chapter, and I sincerely doubt that anyone who's been waiting for an update will be happy with it, but it is literally all I have written so far since the last chapter and it's really more of an excuse to explain why I haven't updated in so long anyway since I don't like the idea of just putting up a no-content chapter to do so. So let's get to explaining!

First and foremost, to be honest I'm at a point in the story where I don't really know where to go. I have plans, but I don't quite know how to _get_ there. And since I'd rather not just churn out a bunch of crap I'm not satisfied with and call it good just to put something out there for you to read, that means no new chapters. Sorry!

Second, I've been busy doing other things. As you may be aware one of them is (what one of my more charming readers recently referred to as) a "shitty, idiotic, no account interactive role-playing story," but that's not the only project occupying my time. I've been trying to get back into photography, building a website, making steps towards starting my own webcomic (maybe two, if a buddy doesn't flake out on me again), and trying to get back into working on my original fiction. Which, since it's something I've been working on for the last ten years, is vastly more important to me than "The Other Takino." I'm sorry, but it's true.

Third, this has just been a very bad year for me. While it's not much of one I do have a life outside of the internet, and unfortunately it happens to be one that involves an awful, soul-sucking job and a dismaying amount of bullshit family drama. Given my general tendency towards insomnia and depression, and this has had a disastrous effect on my happiness and motivation over the past year, and since I was stuck on where to go with "The Other Takino" anyway it has not exactly benefitted from this.

So there you have it. If you've been wondering what has been the dillio, that is what's the dillio. I do want to continue this story, but I want to do it because I actually have a place to take it, not simply to appease my readers by throwing them garbage. That's not fair to you guys.

I thank you all for your understanding, unless you decide to just be an ass about the whole thing like "Geez this is hard" in which case you are cordially invited to suck my balls.


End file.
